Team 2526 - Propeller Propulsion Prototype.

[s_forbes]

Originally Posted by Koosley

Due to a loose belt during our first test run, we couldn't run the prop up to full speed Spinning that blade at 10k rpm according to our calculator (from above) we will get about 6lb of thrust (12lbs total with 2 of them). Is 12 lbs of thrust enough to move the robots?

If the coefficient of friction numbers given to us in the manual are correct, then a full weight robot using wheel propulsion will only get 9 lbs of pushing force from the wheels before they slip. If you can get a total of 12 lbs from two propellers you should be able to outrun the other robots on the field.

One neat thing about propeller propulsion is that (unlike using wheels) your pushing force doesn't depend on the weight of your robot. While wheel driven robots will all accelerate at mostly the same rate, you could put those props on a very lightweight robot and move across the field at rediculous speeds!

Cool stuff, I can't wait to see the final robot.