Hi everyone. Brand-new member, and first post. My question is, what voltage would you recommend for the drive motors on a 6WD robot?
Here's the background. My goal is to create a 6WD, 4-wheel steeering, rover robot similar to the Mars Curiosity rover. Size will be roughly 18 inches square, 12 inches tall. End-state is to have it run autonomously from an Arduino board; I might make it RC as an intermediate stage, and possibly switchable between RC and self-control as the final stage. To keep things simple, I'd like to run everything off one battery - aka, one voltage. So, battery-wise, it appears my options are 6V, 7.2V, 12V. Motors seem to be mainly 6V or 12V, but I have found a few 7.2V. Using 7.2V appeals to be because then I could use the same batteries & chargers as my RC cars; drawback is that 7.2V battery packs don't have long duration. (I'd like this thing to roam around my yard for 1-2 hours if possible.) I guess I could use more than one, in parallel. And servos, as near as I can tell, like 4.8V-6V. If I go 6V or 12V, then I could probably find a larger sealed lead-acid battery for longer life; of course then I would need a dedicated charger... So, I guess I'm looking for the "best compromise".