Found a R/C car drive to make a robot drive train using the Ackermann (“car style”) steering mechanism! In this type of drive, all the wheels move in the same direction: forward or backwards. Steering is accomplished by turning the front wheels such that all the robot turns in an arc around a single turning point.
Most of the robots (including those built at the Bentcreek Studio) have been the common skid steer type of competition robotics drivetrain sometimes referred to as “tank drive” (since it is commonly used on tanks). Wheels on the right side and the left side of the drive are powered by separate motors and wheels are locked pointing forward/backward and do not steer. Steering is accomplished by varying the speed of the different sides (i.e. if the right side goes forward very fast, and the left side goes forward slowly – the robot turns left).
You can learn more in a book I still find is a good resource for newbie’s building their own robots from the old Tab ‘Robot DNA Series’ still available on Amazon:
AJB's Blog 