I am currently working on a tracked robot (electronics is finished, starting mechanics).
The tracks I am planning to build look like that :
I will you use the "pattern" described on many projects on LMR (the one using bicylcle chain, nuts...).
My question is : how much important is the choice of the wheel that will be connected to the motor ? I had planned to fix the motor on the wheel "A" on the picture but I am wondering if this is a smart choice. Because the belt will be driven by friction, would it be more efficient if the driven wheel was one of the bottom (B or C) (which will be in contact with the floor by "gravity" ;).
I would also say A or B (Probably A) for the fact that, during normal operation (forward) that drive wheel is “pulling” the track. Now, I suppose that because the track is a circle, any wheel would be “pulling” depending on how you look at it, but because the track is never going to be 100% tensioned, there will always be a taught side and a slack side. It makes sense to me to put the slack side on the top and the tight side down where the work is being done.
All that is assuming that “A” is the back of the robot. If your picture moved, the robot would be going from left to right on the screen with “D” being the nose of the robot.
