What kind of wheels do you use?

[sanddrag]

We machined our own wheels from 6" di 2" thick 6061 Aluminum disks and screwed on McMaster Wedgetop incline conveyor belting for the tread. You can't get much more grippy than that stuff.

As a side note, I've noticed that I'd say a majority of robots have wheels bigger than they need to be.

[Cory]

100 has mainly used the 6.75" (I think...I never remember exactly) skyway pneumatic knobbies with the diamond treads over the last 4 years.

[Matt_Kaplan1902]

Last year on 108 we made our own plastic wheels and glued on some waffle tread, and had them on the two middle sides of the 'bot. We also had 4 ball bearings on each corner.

[skimoose]

It all depends on the game. Our team has used pneumatic wheels, omniwheels (both custom built and COTS), and the solid 6.75" 'wheel chair' style wheels. Last year when we were six wheel drive using the 6.75's, we modified the center two wheels by machining a channel into the wheels and gluing in conveyor belt tread for extra traction.

[greencactus3]

for the last two years in OCCRA we've been using 8x2 in wheelbarrow wheels&tires. they weigh a LOT but they are very sturdy. and make sure we keep the cog close to the ground. and they grip just enough to push but not enough to easily burn motors.

[Pat Fairbank]

We've been using 6" solid neoprene rubber wheels for the past few years. They're about 1.5" wide and are completely flat, but have an incredibly high coefficient of friction.

The only problem we have with them is that if they get dusty, they lose a lot of traction, so we have to wipe them down every so often.

[team222badbrad]

From the beginning to 2002 we used the 8'' Castor skyway wheels simply because they where easy to use and came in the kit of parts. If I remember right you had to either buy wheels from Skyway or make you're own because of supplier restrictions most of those years.


In 2003 we made our own 6'' dual gum rubber wheels and they proved to be competitive to say the least!

In 2004 we used the Skyway 12.5'' Tuffwheels because they came in the kit of parts and yet where high enough to climb the platform.


In 2005 we used two different types of wheels. We made our own gum rubber Omni-wheels for the back of our robot and we purchased 8'' x 1.25'' pneumatic castors for the front.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Team 57's trying some new wheels in the off-season.

http://204.2.107.191/good_year_power...cing_tires.htm

They're go-kart tires. Solid neoprene around an aluminum hub. They're really gripy, as long as they're clean, and the rear pair has a hole that mates with a shaft with two flattened sides, so it should be fairly easy to use.

[Conor Ryan]

nice thread, its giving me some ideas...anyway

what 1403 used last season was a 5" x 1" rubber wheel from McMaster-Carr, the advantages though a bit heavier were that we could staple teflon to any of the wheels that we wanted to so they could be used to slide around a bit. As well as they had no spokes at all really so were very durable. The wheels generated more than enough friction with the carpet to move around. However for the upcoming season we are looking into a waffle tread, our research is showing that there is some good results with it.

[kjohnson]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Team 57's trying some new wheels in the off-season.

http://204.2.107.191/good_year_power...cing_tires.htm

They're go-kart tires. Solid neoprene around an aluminum hub. They're really gripy, as long as they're clean, and the rear pair has a hole that mates with a shaft with two flattened sides, so it should be fairly easy to use.

Go-Cart tires sound somewhat familiar...
They have REALLY good grip (no one was able to push us once we fixed our limit switch). I remember at VCU that we held 345 (Blarg!) and all they did was spin tires and burned the carpet.

[Arefin Bari]

Originally Posted by MATT_kaplan108

Last year on 108 we made our own plastic wheels and glued on some waffle tread, and had them on the two middle sides of the 'bot. We also had 4 ball bearings on each corner.

Just adding to his post... those wheels worked great. Here are some pictures.