RE:Tracked Robots 
 The Tonka toy dozer has some pretty tough tracks on it, but you 
would have to make the wheels. The ones on the toy are made of 
plastic too thin to attach a drive mechanism to. There may be a 
better solution, however. There are two options I think might work:

1. Conveyor belt manufacturers are increasingly going towards making 
them out of small 'track like' sections. Each section is made out of 
plastic and attaches in the center to the drive mechanism, usually a 
chain drive. The sections also connect together. Some of the narrower 
ones (for small conveyor belts) might work nicely. One disadvantage 
is that the sections are extremely smooth (on top) and would need 
some type of tread glued on (the bottom in our application). Again, 
you would have to make the wheels. The conveyor parts would have to 
be for a linear conveyor, the sections designed for curving are (you 
guessed it)... curved, and wouldn't work for a robot track.

2. Recently I've seen a type of plastic cable guide system that uses 
linked sections that are hollow on the inside. The stuff I've seen 
snaps together and only bends one way. It's used on large repetitive 
motion machines, like CNC machining centers where driver wires don't 
move very far but do move back and forth alot. I'm not describing 
this product well, but it's basically an articulating 'box' that 
houses the wires. This stuff is made of tough, thick plastic that 
would hold up well. Again, you would have to come up with a wheel 
design...

   Hope this helps, Duncan

