Firefly is fitted with custom designed, low friction track sprockets. They increase the robot’s battery endurance by reducing it’s rolling resistance.
Actually, they’re for something else. Firefly can be fitted with with mecanum wheels, and these require four independent motor controls. If you are driving the robot in radio control mode, with the tracks fitted, and you inadvertently request a sideways, “mecanum style” move, then the motors on each track will turn in opposite directions. This tends to unclip and break the tracks.
If you look at the video again, there is connector just above the wheel. Plan A was to use the link shown below.
The link inserts into the side of the robot, thereby enabling sideways moves. The link conflicts the tracks, so can’t be fitted at the same time as tracks.
This was OK, but I figured it would be easy to forget the link. Or for the link to drop out during a game.
So I went low friction sprockets instead.
Team PiDrogen 