pic: Differential Swerve (Close Up View) with Advanced Gear Kit

[artdutra04]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Hmm, this was my weak point when working on the race car back in high school -- I was more of an engine & electronics guy. What is the point of a differential for those of us who can't visualise why you'd want 2 wheels turning in opposite directions on the chassis setup you have for this particular bot?

In the differential in a car, the wheels do NOT normally turn in different directions; (although it is possible) rather they turn at different speeds. When you drive around a corner, the outside wheel has to turn faster (bigger radius circle), and the inside wheel has to turn slower (smaller radius).

The way this is achieved is that the entire body of the differential can spin, causing one of the output shafts to spin slower that the other. (It's kind of hard to explain in words, these links may be of some help:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differ....htm/printable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differe...hanical_device)