Drive tutorial

These are several tips that you should follow when setting up a bot's drive system.

(Some don't want to follow these because it's "building like everyone else" or "not original", you're free to build that do you want, but then don't moan if your drive system sucks.

-Naryar

Drive Motors

Obviously those are spin motors.

The best drive motors are HP Z-teks, and you can use right angles too.

You should also know that bursting your drive motors with servos/snappers makes your bot faster. Useful in most departments, but more unstable than non-bursted drive.

Don't use Redbirds, because they suck. Hard.

Power

To have a good drive you need to power your bot correctly.

A minimum of 2 small battery packs should power your drive. But if you can, choose a nifty instead. A Nifty is enough for a maximum of 2 HP Z-teks. A Supervolt is enough for a maximum 4 HP Z-teks.

Don't forget your weapons, too - a VS with 2WD Z-tek drive and a HP Z-tek powered weapon needs ont nifty.

Multiple Wheel Drive

For maximum efficiency, you should only use these setups:

1 wheel drive, right angle: This is used only on antweights, to make a powerful HS. You can drive forward/backward using the right angle and turn left/right using the recoil of the spinner motor.

2WD, right angle: Most lightweight classes use this setup. Decent speed, but not enough for a Rammer or a Popup. You cant use this on MW's, but... have a look at Fury's speed.

2WD, Z-tek : Neat for speedy LW's and decent for MW, although not very fast.

2WD, HP Z-tek: Makes for EXTREMELY fast lightweights (you'll need practice to drive that), neatly fast middleweights and average heavyweights. Use at least that on a HW if you want decent speed. Better than 4WD Z-tek because lighter for the same power.

3WD: Uncommon, but can be made into Pretty bots.

4WD, HP Z-tek: Very fast on a MW. That makes a nice drive for a HW.

6WD, HP Z-tek: You could use that on a rammer, but it becomes difficult to drive.

8WD, HP Z-tek: OK, now this is beginning to be too much.

10WD HP Z-tek or more: You're insane.

Wheels

The best wheels are Shiny Hubs because of their low weight and decent diameter, but if you have an invertibility problem with them you could use Slipperbottoms.

Avoid other wheels, there are heavier and are big targets for your opponent. Using miniwheels is not worthy even if they are difficult targets, because they're heavy too.

If you want extremely low ground clearance, put a rubber wheel on a Z-tek. Useful in several cases, like wedges, but you'll see that your bot will lost his traction very easily if he's lifted/flipped.

General Design

You'll notice that often, your bot will drift to the left or right if you go forward, especially in the 2WD category and with fast motors. This is caused by a weight distribution problem.

You simply need to make your bot as symmetric as possible. That is, make a bot where the gravity center is close to the center of the bot. Most cars/trucks/whatever follow this rule. It is all about symmetry.

-When setting up motors, put them aligned horizontally. Like a car, again. -Try to put the components in a symmetric setup. -Balance the bot. -Make a symmetric chassis. -You should also know that batteries doesn't seem to have an effect on weight distribution.

This is extremely important on VS and Rammers

Examples

Bad drive setup

Good drive setup

Yes, the good system could be better, that is, putting the control board at the center. But-I'm not going to build a perfect bot just for that.

But look, the first is heavier and slower than the second one...

Exotic drive systems

(generally not allowed in tournaments)

The most common are discs/tribars with weapons on them used as wheels.

Although they are stronger than usual wheels and make effective damage, they have extremely low grip (get ready to be pushed) and are a slow drive system, besides being frowned upon by Some of the community.

A bot with that drive is called a crawler. Tribar crawlers are generally not used because weaker than disc crawlers and harder to move.

There are also walkers, reproducting a bot with legs, made with servos, burst motors or tribar (tribar crawler).