paper: MINIBOT acceleration solution

[Ether]

Originally Posted by boomergeek

I think the largest remaining error is the phenomena of sliding friction that occurs when the power is first applied.

Good catch. I was thinking about that just the other day. The model assumes there is enough friction between the "wheel" (drive shaft) and the pole so that the wheel never slips. But if your shaft diameter is small enough and your normal force isn't high enough, the stall torque of the Tetrix can "burn rubber" (like a dragster). The model does not account for this. I could add another user input: coefficient of friction, and include that to model wheel slip. But not only would that number be fuzzy (so many factors can cause it to vary), it would also make the system nonlinear and not solvable analytically. Numerical methods would have to be used. Of course, once you say goodbye to the analytical solution and start using numerical methods, you can introduce all sorts of clever nonlinear refinements. Maybe a fun project for the off season.