[Dprglist] Creating a line following course with tape on wood floor - safe for the floor?

[Murray Altheim]

On 16/01/21 9:10 am, Patrick R. Michaud via DPRGlist wrote:
> [...] So to echo Karim, I always use gaffers tape in these floor-taping
> situations, but it's not a perfect solution.  I'd be reluctant to tape
> my hardwood floor directly, but I also have other options (foam tiles
> etc) that I can use to create a robot playing surface.

An expensive fix to a damaged wood floor due to tape seems like an
avoidable situation.

On the subject of foam tiles, I just checked our local hardware store and
they sell black, interlocking 24" square foam tiles for about NZ$9/US$6
per square meter. It looks like KMart sells a four-pack of them in four
colors for $12, a four pack of the black ones for $11. You pay extra for
color.

In the US, where everything is more available, I checked foamtiles.com
(flooring geeks!) in Meza, AZ, and they sell tiles with rubber tops,
carpet tops, wood patterns, and martial arts mats (e.g., 2x2' US$7.56,
3'x3' US17 per tile). Male or female beveled edge, beveled corners, lots
of options. It looks like the low end of their line of interlocking tiles
runs about US$1.20/sq. ft, e./g.

   https://www.foamtiles.com/interlocking-tile/foam/12-eco-soft-tile.html

They're don't ship outside of the US so I'd have to find a different
supplier, but it seems these foam tiles are not hard to source.

So maybe the easiest solution is to use these interlocking foam tiles.
They'd provide good traction and could be taken apart and stored when not
in use. White tape on black tile would do fine. Or black tape on pink. It
would even be possible to print out the DPRG line following course, spray
glue it to a set of tiles, then laboriously cut the zig zags with an xacto
knife. But I'm not suggesting anyone tackle that -- it seems a particular
sort of torture. But there's a solution to that too, though I have no idea
what it'd cost: custom mats from SoftTiles.com:

   https://softtiles.com/pages/corporate-projects
   https://i.shgcdn.com/23d74f3e-4e97-4830-a95a-c01c83aefcc6/-/format/auto/-/preview/3000x3000/-/quality/lighter/

[Legal Notice: I hold no fiduciary interest in foamtiles.com or any other
foam tile wholesale or retail establishment.]

I might see if they sell these at the local KMart here in NZ. Two four
packs would be the size of a sheet of plywood and cost about $22.

Nice solution.

Cheers,

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim <murray18 at altheim dot com>                       = =  ===
http://www.altheim.com/murray/                                     ===  ===
                                                                    = =  ===
     In the evening
     The rice leaves in the garden
     Rustle in the autumn wind
     That blows through my reed hut.
            -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu