Wheel Report for Mini Sumo Robots

Wheels is one of the important items for the mini sumo robots. At that article I will compare our production wheels to against other brand wheels.

1. SLT20: Silicone and Aluminium Robot Wheel which is produced by us (JSumo Team)
2. SL20P: Brass and Aluminium Robot wheel this model is produced from us too.
3. Banebots: We will examine green 3/8 inch model, which are produced by Banebots. Good quality model at I examined.
4. Fingertech: These are popular models at minisumo robots, produced by Fingertech. In my opinion Very soft wheel but same time with plastic rim, very lightweight for good mini sumo robots.

Weight

Good weight distribution can help mini sumo robot’s winning. At JSumo we saw that if robot’s mass center is low to ground it can make better and more fast movements.

If we want to make 4 wheeled mini sumo robot, bottom photos show each group’s weight. I guess SLT20 Alumium inside models are better for 4 wheel designs.

Sizes

Nearly all 4 type wheels have similar sizes. SLT20, SLT20P and Fingertech models have gap inside for securing 12mm, 15mm and 16mm diameter motors.

Wall Thickness and Balance

At that factor, fingertech wheels show poor quality. Because of not equal thickness geometry. if you look to below photo, unfortunately fingertech wheels have different thicknesses at sides. This failure makes fingertech wheels wobbly. Banebots, SLT20 and SLT20P silicone wheels have all perfect roundness at inside circle and outside circle.

1,2 and 4th model from left to right shows different wall thicknesses at their circles.

Hard Change

At that factor Fingertech and SLT Silicone series wheels are better options to Banebots wheels. For changing banebots wheels you have to first remove side ring which holds wheels, and later you need to remove hub with allen wrench.

Side Ring, wheels and hub. (This hub model uses 2 wheels)

Holding Ability, Friction

Soft silicone and polyurethane tyres have better holding ability against to rubber wheels. All our experiments made at standart laminated flat wood (same as mini sumo robot dohyo surface)

Conclusion

Each wheel have different characters for usage at mini sumo robots. Before producing our wheels (SLT20 and SLT20P) we used both wheels (Fingertech and Banebots) and after seeing these wheels problems we determined to produce ours, with better quality and better traction. You can also click on the links below to review our wheels.