Poll:2010 How many wheel drive are you using?

[billbo911]

Yes this is another poll. The one from last year was actually quite interesting.

The basic question is: "How many wheels are used in your drive train and why did you choose to use this approach?

[Alex Cormier]

We will have a 4.5wd.

6 Wheels will be powered, but only 4 on the ground constantly.

[billbo911]

In all fairness, I will start.
We are using 5 wheels. 4 sticky KOP wheels and a piston activated 5th wheel mounted perpendicular that drop down, lifting the back 2 wheels up. This will allow us to rotate onto target easier.

Edit: Wow, so much for being first.

[big1boom]

We are using 4, 4" plaction wheels. The real interesting part is that as it stands now, we are using 32 sprockets, on 12 loops of chain.

[Joe6391]

I want to see a 1 wheel bot, that would be awesome.

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by Joe6391

I want to see a 1 wheel bot, that would be awesome.

I couldn't agree more. That's why I requested pictures.

[spacegy4]

Treads all the way!

[Chris is me]

8 wheel drive is going to be common enough that I would highly recommend you add it to the poll. 2791 is doing 8 wheel.

[sdcantrell56]

1771 is going with 8wd

[Joe Johnson]

Team #2849, Ursa Major, (and I) are going with 12 Wheel Drive.

Why? It seemed like a good idea at the time ;-)

Honestly, because I am paranoid of getting stuck on those bumps and 12WD seemed like a good way to prevent that from happening.

Would 8WD been enough? Perhaps, but with each new crossing the bump video that gets uploaded to youtube, I grow more convinced that 12WD has its advantages...

Joe J.

[Matt382]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

Team #2849, Ursa Major, (and I) are going with 12 Wheel Drive.

Why? It seemed like a good idea at the time ;-)

Honestly, because I am paranoid of getting stuck on those bumps and 12WD seemed like a good way to prevent that from happening.

Would 8WD been enough? Perhaps, but with each new crossing the bump video that gets uploaded to youtube, I grow more convinced that 12WD has its advantages...

Joe J.

Yeah I think a lot of teams will be going with 8wd (we are). The reason 488's robot tipped like that (like many 6wd drive robots will) is because a lot of their weight is distributed in the back. If you can keep your weight balanced correctly, even with 8wd drive, you wouldn't flop like that. (We watched our robot cross the bump on CAD, but haven't gotten the chance to test it in real life yet).

[Andrew Schuetze]

The low clearance of a standard chassis with 8 wheels scares me now that I see it getting high centered on the hump sideways. That just seems to be another plus for the using the KOP stand-offs. The big negative is raising one's CG.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Matt382

Yeah I think a lot of teams will be going with 8wd (we are). The reason 488's robot tipped like that (like many 6wd drive robots will) is because a lot of their weight is distributed in the back. If you can keep your weight balanced correctly, even with 8wd drive, you wouldn't flop like that. (We watched our robot cross the bump on CAD, but haven't gotten the chance to test it in real life yet).

Be aware that with a centered CoG, you will still have a pretty spectacular fall over the bump due to momentum unless you take it somewhat slowly. But not too slowly that you get defended easily. Driving is hard...

8wd shouldn't be high centering diagonally too much. 488's video basically demonstrated you have to be completely sideways to high center.

[TomH]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

8 wheel drive is going to be common enough that I would highly recommend you add it to the poll. 2791 is doing 8 wheel.

Agreed because of in my preference, 8 wheels will be common, even our design is tending to a design that is using more than 6 wheels (not telling how many) with a good reason behind it. 1/3 scale vex designs have come out and have shown the capabilities of a design with more that 6 wheels. Although an idea like 8 wheels may not be loved by all, I expect that something along the lines of that to be more successful do the the more balanced weight distribution through out movement on the field, and the placement of these wheels will also have an effect on the handling capabilities of a given robot. It will be at the competition though that we will see what chassis design is the most successful and winning.

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by Joe6391

I want to see a 1 wheel bot, that would be awesome.

Here
Here
Here (Danger PDF -- and a slow loading one at that)

Now a one wheeled FIRST robot, that would be a 1st.

Joe J.