pic: Prototype Drivetrain

[548swimmer]

Originally Posted by LLogan

I would advise you to drive the four omnis on the corners. Your tractive force is based off of the sum of the forces of friction on all of your wheels. With the design you have right now, you are essentially "wasting" the normal force on the corner wheels. Whatever weight you will have on those sections of the robot will not contribute to your pushing force, giving you less than what you would generally want.

Though the force is "wasted" the majority of the weight will be placed on the drive wheels due to where the CG is. Our current build leader, whom I have discussed this design with, guesstimates that roughly 75% of the weight will be put on the center wheels. Also, I believe that in previous posts I addressed the design goal of maneuverability. The omni's are there as casters, meant to prevent the robot from scratching the floors. There is also the suspension, that will transfer weight during a pushing match onto the center wheel.