Week of 5/27

This week was a very short week so I did not have as much to as I would have liked to work on my project. The first thing I completed this week was finishing the rough design for the suspension and motor attachments. I was overall pretty happy with how the overall design turned out, the final thing I still need to decide with the suspension is if I should laser cut or 3d print each of the legs. However, hopefully I should be able to test out how the suspension work with the only thing left to add being the differential which will keep the base of the rover stable.

After this was complete I next spent the rest of my week learning and researching different designs and sizes for the wheels of the rover. I learned how important wheel design was, but even better how the treads are designed. For tires there are numerous different types of treads you can attach, however not all of them work well, some are far superior for certain conditions. For harsh terrain (what I am designing the rover for) it is important to have the correct type of treads. For harsh terrain using wheels with very large knobby lugs is crucial for the best traction and control when driving. After looking online I was able to find some different types of wheels and treads, however my favorites where the styles that allowed the user to stick the treads onto the wheel, which fits my design far better as it gives me more customization in CAD.

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D5iY-O-8XNAsu06NkLAyQCdkQDPdlUP286kZYavlWEU/edit?tab=t.0