Re: To turn or not to turn

[Joyce Poon <poonj@ecf.utoronto.ca>]

I think there is a mechanical difference between the 2 scenarios. 

Turning:
	The robot "pivots" around 1 wheel.  The difference in
speed/direction between the 2 driving wheels makes the robot turn.

Non-Turning:
	The direction of the wheels changes in the robot (sort of like
dry-steering in driving) and the robot just moves in the new
direction.

I forgot to include an analogy earlier which might help explain what I am
thinking about.

Imagine Bob (a human) is playing tag.  Now, Bob only has eyes on the
"front" side of his head, so Bob can't see anything that's behind him or
to his side.  So for Bob to find his pursuer/prey, he has to turn his head
and look around.  Furthermore, Bob, being a normal person, moves around
best when he runs in a forward direction (in the same direction that the
front side of his head is facing so he can keep looking ahead & looking
at where he is going). So when Bob wants to move, Bob has to turn to the
desired direction first before he actually moves in that direction.

Now SuperBob is a superhuman with eyes on around his entire head and he
can look around in every direction at the same time.  SuperBob doesn't 
have to turn to look around.  And when SuperBob finds what he looking for,
he can just "side-skip" in that direction.  You see, SuperBob doesn't have
to turn to keep seeing what's in front of him or what's around him with
all his eyes.  And that makes him Super.

I hope the analogy clarified the difference between the turning and the
non-turning robot.

Joyce :)