Featured This Month:
Features
32 PARTS IS PARTS:
Let’s Roll – Wheels for
Combat Robots
by James Baker
35 MANUFACTURING:
Creating Composite
Combat Bots
by Bradley Hanstad
38 COMBAT ZONE’S
GREATEST HITS
by Kevin Berry
Events
38 June/July 2010 Results and
Sep/Oct 2010 Upcoming
Events
32 SERVO 09.2010
PARTS IS PARTS:
Let’s Roll – Wheels For Combat Robots
● by James Baker
It does not matter how powerful your robot is, if you
cannot transfer that power to the
floor. Wheels are the single most
important part of your robot
because without them doing their
job properly, the effectiveness of
every other capability is reduced.
Power is nothing without the
ability to use it, but to many, the
only consideration is to have as
much grip as possible from your
wheels. Assuming you can get
the grip you want, what
consideration is
actually given to the
wheel structure itself?
You can buy
wheels from hundreds
of suppliers all over
the world. They are
usually round (but not
always!) and come in
many different sizes.
It is not a simple task,
however, to buy
wheels that will work
in robot combat. There are only a
few people around the world
who sell ready-made robot
combat wheels, and of these
suppliers, some may be using
commercially available wheels
that are modified or adapted for
robot use. Or, they may offer
custom machined wheels that
they have manufactured
themselves. I cannot offer you a
guide to buying your wheels from
one of these suppliers, as I have
not bought from many of them
A commercially available
wheel mounted to a live axle.
