It is very common, around the house or the mall, for floors to have minor changes in elevation. An expansion joint, a door jamb or maybe just a strip of molding between a carpeted and tile floor. A Robot must be able to navigate such surfaces. The original design intent of the tread system used on the Slightly different Robot was to allow the steering hub end (technically the back) to be able to climb over such objects better then the more “normal” looking front.

Instead of relying on a typical “tank tread” steering system a steerable wheel hub is used. This allows the Robot to travel along curved paths somewhat like a car. The differential helps to allow pretty tight turns. In this test the turn radius is about 36”

On at least one occasion Dr Smith threatened to rebuild the Robot into a pleasure vehicle. What could be worse then being turned into a childs toy? Now improved with an appropriate musical sound track...