Carpet Traction: Treads or Surface Area

[ChrisH]

The diamond pattern belt used by Kingman was Brecoflex. At least that's what they told us. However we found a similar belt from another vendor. In tests we could not tell the difference. The diamond pattern belt digs into the carpet like a file card and is very effective. We originally had it on our wheels this year.

However in one of our matches in San Jose we got into a shoving match with the Cheesy Poofs. I think they were using the same belt on their tires. Both robots needed new tread after that. The real bummer was we had just replaced the treads going into the match. After that we developed metal cleated wheels that work just fine and don't wear out, at least if you keep them on carpet.