The idea of having a tracked line following robot has been floating around in our group for a bit now and so here is a bit of research in order for us to make a better decision for our final design.
Pros of having a tracked robot:
1. It will make our robot look really cool.
2. It will be fairly easy to implement.
3. Each track will be individually driven, allowing on the spot turning.
4. The tracks act as a break allowing greater accuracy of movement (turning).
Cons of having a tracked robot:
1. The robot will have to have special wheels in order for the tracks to stay on in motion especially when turning.
2. Could add cost to the project.
3. Might need a slightly greater power through the motors in order to achieve the same performance that a non-tracked robot might achieve.
All in all, I think giving our robot tracks will give it a slight edge over the other robots and I think it will be easy to do. Looking for ways of providing the tracks, Lego Technic looks the better bet over simpler ideas such as elastic bands due to the fact that it will address the 1st con. As for the other cons, 2, I think will be a pretty small cost and 3, I think we wont even notice a drop in performance at this level.
My final view would be to implement the track idea on the robot and if it goes horribly wrong, then change to the 3 wheeled option.
Here is a nice web page on how to construct a tracked robot:
Below are some images of track possibilities:
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