pic: 816's 2009 Drivetrain!

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Vikesrock

Are the chain runs shown in the picture temporary or are you just using the extra drive sprockets as temporary spacers?

Or I suppose they could be for attaching some unknown mechanism to the drive transmissions.

Originally I designed it so that the front chain went all the way back to the transmission. Then after we started putting the chains on we noticed that we didn't really need it so we shortened the chain up. The only reason the sprocket was still on the was because we didn't get a chance to make a spacer yet.

Originally Posted by craigboez

We are building a very similar chassis for prototyping. Just curious, did you test this 6WD configuration against a 4WD configuration (like the one in the picture, but without the middle wheels)? We're planning to, just wondering if there are any substantial advantages to either design.

Comments?

I don't think it would be substantially different aside from the fact that your distributing your weight over 6 points instead of 4 which can cause the robot to maneuver differently. I have a personal preference towards 6 wheel drives and that's kinda why we went in this direction. You should be fine with a 4 wheel drive with similar geometry and then if you wanted to you could always add a 5th and 6th wheel