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Miscellaneous Robot

This is just a design I came up with while working on another project, which I'll post about if successful. Ultimately, this robot was a failure because it's not powerful and can't steer (the treads are too close together), but it looked interesting. Also, since the treads go all around the robot, it can still drive when it's upside down or on either end, so that was pretty neat too.

Anyway, how useful/practical have you found these treads? I like their size and the fact that you can make them as long as you want, but then I don't like their slipperiness (although people have fixed that with stuff like liquid rubber), and they don't seem to "fit" very well on robots (lots of times they're either too long or too short).

-Jonathan

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Unknown said…
Jonathan,

imaginative stuff (as usually from you).

I'd agree with the drawbacks you noted, in particular the fitting issue which derives from the rather large size of the atomic elements and their inflexibility, of course.

I do not use them very often for my mobile models, though I noted that they make good parts in GBC ones.

Yet, it goes without saying that they make robots look rather interesting, don't they?
Jan 30, 2008, 1:18:00 AM
Brian Davis said…
I hope someday there's a rubber "shoe" for these treads, that would increase their grip. Other than that, I don't have much to complain about with them. Sure, they are difficult to fit if the sprocket wheels driving them are fixed in place... so don't fix them in place. Make at least one support wheel spring-loaded, to take up slack (& provide some give in the system as well). Such a "tensioning bogies" is fairly common in most systems - and can be made to work well in LEGO.
Jan 30, 2008, 1:37:00 AM
Robotica said…
I think it looks a bit like WALL-E, the new pixar Robot movie.

Martyn
Jan 30, 2008, 2:07:00 AM
Jonathan Daudelin said…
Brian,

>Make at least one support wheel
>spring-loaded, to take up slack

That's a great idea... I didn't think of that before. Of course, this would make the robot bigger and more complicated, but it would probably work well.

-Jonathan
Jan 30, 2008, 4:05:00 AM
Anonymous said…
Good idea to bad it didn't work. I've been wondering if you can buy those new treads separatly or if you have to get them in a set. Where did you get yours?
Jan 30, 2008, 8:13:00 AM
Jonathan Daudelin said…
I got them from LEGO Education - they have an awesome accessory set of these: 100 links and 10 small sprockets for $12.00 (minus shipping), so I couldn't pass it up. I made a post about this set before, and as you can see, 100 links let you make four regular-sized treads, or two huge ones (like on my robot), so it's plenty.

-Jonathan
Jan 30, 2008, 9:57:00 AM
Anonymous said…
I think it's perfect to try something like IRobot Looj:
http://irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=354
If you do it please share the project, i have gutters to clean!
(of course i'd help :-)
Jan 30, 2008, 12:12:00 PM
Anonymous said…
Thank you. I though I was going to have to buy a whole big set with them included.
Jan 31, 2008, 7:38:00 AM
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