Optimized Wheel Design for Traction and Travel over Noise

Abstract

This report outlines the experimental project for MAE440 S2022. The project consists of testing the performance–speed and traction–of different wheel designs for a robot traversing over random noise. The speed of the wheels will be determined by how quickly it travels across the downward-sloped plane driven by gravity. The traction of the wheels will be determined by how the wheels maintain contact of the surface. The random noise depicted by the noise modifier applied to the plane is meant to resemble random obstacles littering the floor. The wheel designs are believed to have increasingly greater traction, or grip, on the surface they are traveling on. The wheels were tested going down a noisy ramp, and the wheel design with the hooked spokes was the fastest. Further study would benefit from testing these wheel designs on an upward noisy ramp to better test the traction of the wheels.