You’re close! I like this! Thank you for expanding on your thinking.
If the wheels were stalling, then you’d be correct, more power (more motors) could solve this issue. But since your wheels are slipping, more power will actually make your slippage worse.
Acceleration can be either traction limited or power limited. In this case, it looks like you are traction limited. The wheels want to move faster than the robot, and results in a sick burnout.
Check out how slow this car is moving. But also try to realize how FAST the back wheels are spinning. If this car was on a 22° incline like your robot is on the Platform, I bet it wouldn’t move forward at all.
Now, I don’t know if we can solve the problem any more using just theory. We have identified some differences between the working robot and the not working robot. We have learned some new concepts like traction limitations. We now have enough tools in our tool belt to make a hypothesis (or many hypotheses) and can now apply the scientific method. It’s time to start testing.
Here’s a short list of the things we know are either different or have been affected:
- Weight & Weight distribution
- Number of motors
- Number of wheels
- Traction on the wheels
Try changing something on the robot that affects just one of these items (weight will be hard to keep constant). Then test it out. Try taking a motor off. Try using a different gear ratio. Try making the robot a lot heavier or lighter.
Test these differences out and that’s how we will be able to definitively solve this problem.