pic: 1519 robot as of last tuesday

[ShaneP]

I'd love a 20 fps akerman steering robot, but the traffic and low speed maneuverability is what concerned us. This robot looks fun to drive though.

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

6 seconds per lap?

At kickoff, the driver of 330 with a very nice electric RC racing car (was it 1/18th scale?) that was much faster than 20 fps was taking 7-8 seconds per lap.....

Originally Posted by EricH

Shane having an electric racing car? That's like saying that my Aero Design planes use rubber bands! They're gas-powered, like his car. (Unless he got another one.)

And yeah, those racecars are faster than 20 fps max. If you can't beat the car, you can't have 6 second laps...

It was an electric brushless 1/18th scale. I wouldn't run a gas one indoors

It's strange comparing the accelerations of the two, but for overall acceleration, the 1/18th RC will smoke the robot. The 1/18 will accelerate to 50 fps in about 2 or so seconds with decent traction. Off the line, a robot might snap ahead momentarily because of it's torq/traction advantage, but once the 1/18th gets going, it's gone. The surface at the kickoff was slick flooring, so I had drift the car around the corners always and couldn't build up any speed. That's why I was doing 7-8 second laps. And as a side note, that field mock-up at the kickoff was maybe half the size of a normal regulation field, which shows just how great the lack of traction was.

While it might seem that drifting is faster, in most situations I don't think that's true. You can carry quite a bit more speed through the corner if you can maintain consistent control and rely on static friction. You can change your acceleration vectors (when turning) quicker. It's partly why you don't see Formula One, Nascar, etc. running sideways. But with the traffic that there will be, it will be difficult to hold any speed through a corner.