treads: useful or not?

[Andy L]

I'm going to back Craig on this since my team is going with treads also.

After looking for a while at many wheel designs the biggest thing I liked about treads over stand wheel layouts like the kit bot was the fact that they needed a lot less ground clearance = lower COG = less tipping chance, plus a multitude of other reasons that Craig already covered.

Outback is also really amazing to work with and really helpful, the treads that come out of there are awesome

[the man]

We are using tracks this year, our first test of them will commence monday.

[Manoel]

Team 383 used treads from 2001 to 2007.

Team 383 has a lot of experience building robots with treads.

Team 383 cannot use that experience to perfect a tread system.

Team 383 has lost at least two matches in every season it used treads because the robot cannot move when the treads fall off - and they will fall off.

Team 383 will not be using treads anytime soon.


Build your robot as you wish, but I strongly recommend that you build it on wheels, whatever flavor (omni, mecanum, sticky, slippy...) pleases you.

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by Manoel

Team 383 used treads from 2001 to 2007.

Team 383 has a lot of experience building robots with treads.

Team 383 cannot use that experience to perfect a tread system.

Team 383 has lost at least two matches in every season it used treads because the robot cannot move when the treads fall off - and they will fall off.

Team 383 will not be using treads anytime soon.


Build your robot as you wish, but I strongly recommend that you build it on wheels, whatever flavor (omni, mecanum, sticky, slippy...) pleases you.

Do you have any more info? who made the trades? to what tolerances were they made? Under what conditions did they fall off?

[JohnFogarty]

Originally Posted by Andy L

Do you have any more info? who made the trades? to what tolerances were they made? Under what conditions did they fall off?

woah, woah, woah...... Treads...grove cut to fit between 2 wheels track has a grove which is IMPOSSIBLE to come off....problem solved
http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/z...86 4_3076.jpg

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by John_1102

woah, woah, woah...... Treads...grove cut to fit between 2 wheels track has a grove which is IMPOSSIBLE to come off....problem solved
http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/z...86 4_3076.jpg

higher res please?

[the man]

Well we are trying a tensioner system and i belive the tensioner will hold the belt in place no matter how rough we play.

[Dragon Princess]

For some reason I think that treads aren't so useful for this years game. They're heavy, takes up (a lot of) space on the robot, and to go over the bump you'll need to pass over the center point for climbing down (if your top heavy your going to end up bouncing around and possibly losing the treads in the process<this applies for going onto the bump as well>). The one thing I have repeatedly learned is that a tipped robot, and a robot with out chains/treads in place, leads to a very frustrating match where you end up not moving to your own major disappointment.

[David Guzman]

Originally Posted by Dragon Princess

For some reason I think that treads aren't so useful for this years game. They're heavy, takes up (a lot of) space on the robot, and to go over the bump you'll need to pass over the center point for climbing down (if your top heavy your going to end up bouncing around and possibly losing the treads in the process<this applies for going onto the bump as well>). The one thing I have repeatedly learned is that a tipped robot, and a robot with out chains/treads in place, leads to a very frustrating match where you end up not moving to your own major disappointment.

The key to how useful treads are is how well they are designed. A well designed tread system can actually weight less and occupy less space than most 8/6 wheel drive robots. They are not cheap if you want to do it right.

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by David Guzman

The key to how useful treads are is how well they are designed. A well designed tread system can actually weight less and occupy less space than most 8/6 wheel drive robots. They are not cheap if you want to do it right.

Exactly, I played with the tread system made by Outback manufacturing(outbackmfg.com) today and it was insanely light. The treads they use are LIGHT and the actual tread material doesn't stretch. I haven't felt a full on wheeled module weight, but I imagine if anything it's not much less if not heavier. The weight of the chain alone is extremely heavy. I wouldn't doubt a tread would be lighter.

[JohnFogarty]

You who have no faith here's my point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Bm9DCr6Yo
real and working WELL