I'm building a robot out of steel with a single drive wheel. The robot will be about 3.5' tall and 1.5' wide. I need a motor that will support the steel robot in both movement as well as the quick forward/backward tugs to keep it standing upright.
I will also need a second motor (two actually) that will spin an internal flywheel to keep it from tipping to the side. (The second one will help it turn right and left.) This one requires the high torque/quick accel, but doesn't need a high top speed.
All the motors will need to provide the torque required to handle the quick movements. I don't care about extra speed. (Bonus points if the motors are powerful enough to let me sit on the robot itself and have it wheel me around.)
I'm not too concerned with the price (as long as they're reasonable), so I would like something that is strong and durable. The case is large enough to support a couple 12v batteries and descent sized motors, however, being able to run for a few hours before recharging would be nice.
Drive wheel is ideally 16" diameter, 7" width. A hub motor for the drive wheel would be the best idea, but I can live with an external/chain drive motor if I must. Anyone have expertise on this or ideas where I can go to start shopping? This decision affects my entire design so help is greatly appreciated.
I've looked at bicycle hub motors, but in all honesty I'm not knowledgeable enough about the specifics of the motors to be able to select one. My plan was to get one with plenty of power and welding it into the rim of a wheel that matched my specs. This a good plan or is it not advised? (The other option is to machine the wheel myself. I do have access to a few CNC milling machines, but suck at designing.)
I'm a programmer by trade, so the actual construction is all new to be, but I'm exciting for the challenge.