pic: we decided to leave our electronics box as the cardboard box FIRST gave us, it was prelabeled.

[sethw]

Originally Posted by DarkFlame145

imo tracks was a bad way to go in 05, it was very compact and you needed to be able to turn well. But i was wondering also, it's going to make turning hard.

Tracks really work rather well - our team has used them several years and never had a problem with them. Turning with them is easy enough. We even won regionals with track-driven robots in both 2004 and 2005. They're a very viable option.

[DarkFlame145]

Originally Posted by sethw

Tracks really work rather well - our team has used them several years and never had a problem with them. Turning with them is easy enough. We even won regionals with track-driven robots in both 2004 and 2005. They're a very viable option.

Really? we never have had a lot of luck with them, from what i hear from old members.

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by DarkFlame145

Really? we never have had a lot of luck with them, from what i hear from old members.

From what I understand, a good track system needs a lot of thought and planning (especially in the tensioning system). With careful planning they can be equally maneuverable, be better at handling obstacles, and possess a lower CoG than wheels; with bad or sloppy design they can be quite expensive (belt replacements), unreliable, have difficulty turning, and be very heavy. Most of the good track designs, like 180's and 48's, have gone through many, many iterations to reach their current level of effectiveness.

[bubbablahmon]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

From what I understand, a good track system needs a lot of thought and planning (especially in the tensioning system). With careful planning they can be equally maneuverable, be better at handling obstacles, and possess a lower CoG than wheels; with bad or sloppy design they can be quite expensive (belt replacements), unreliable, have difficulty turning, and be very heavy. Most of the good track designs, like 180's and 48's, have gone through many, many iterations to reach their current level of effectiveness.

we had to go through two different designs. last year we had about 80 parts on one track. bad idea. so this year we are down to 7 peices. BEYAAH.