treads: useful or not?

Originally Posted by engunneer

legal? yes (assuming you follow the rules for what contacts the carpet)

Useful? no. Unless you find or make just the right thing, most treads are either too heavy, too inefficient, make it too hard to turn, or have too many moving parts.

It is possible to design treads that balance these considerations, but I don't think treads are needed in general this year.

I /do/ predict that 5% of the robot population will have them.

I would heavily disagree with most assertions in this post.

Yes, tracks are legal. Yes, they are useful. They allow unparalleled climbing ability, and traction that no other system can offer. They are easy to turn, assuming proper design work is done. In addition, a proper tread system will have less moving parts than a six wheel, or even a four wheel.

I would recommend looking up Outback Tracks for inspiration, and please research the problem fully before discarding an idea based on one CD member's post.