pic: Concept 8wd Drivetrain

[Cory]

Originally Posted by sdcantrell56

This is one of the reasons why I have gravitated toward 8wd is the redundancy of the chain. Unless 2 chains break on each side of my drivetrain, there will always be at least one center wheel plus its outer wheel powered.

This is also true of any direct drive to the center wheel 6wd robot.

I'm always curious why so many people cite the desire to have a robot that can continue driving through multiple chain/sprocket/etc failures. In the hundreds of matches my teams have competed through, as well as our collaborative partners, I have only ever witnessed two chains break-in both cases it was a sprocket failure.

If your drivetrain is well designed and the chains are properly tensioned, the odds of losing a chain, let alone more than one chain are nearly negligible.