On Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 2:44:58 PM UTC-4, Ignoramus4444 wrote:
As I mentioned before, we built a robot for a science olympiad
competition.

http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Robocross/

Even though the competition only lasts 3 minutes, my son used the
robot a lot for two weeks to practice.

What we discovered is that the tracked chassis just is not built to
last, the track stretched after two weeks and started slipping.

Anyway, the reason for my question is that I decided to buy a
surveillance robot for my warehouse, with a camera and a LED light
mounted on an arm, that I would remotely drive around my warehouse
from home to look at various corners.

I have no problem building a control system, however, I want to buy a
wheeled chassis that would not be a cheap Chinese imitation of a real
product, and that could be capable of lasting for several hundred
hours of driving. I can build one myself if necessary, but I wanted to
check with you guys to see what you think.

The easiest would be to make a skid steer type 4WD wheeled platform.

It would drive on the concrete floor, maybe over extension cords and
such.

Any suggestions for something that would be a quality product and
capable of lasting up to 1,000 hours of use?

i

I'll second the wheelchair or mobility scooter. Those things are generally built very well and will have power (and bearings, etc) to spare.

OTOH, if you want the real deal, check out http://www.irobot.com/For-Defense-an...x#PublicSafety Yes, those are the same people who make the roomba vacuums, but this is a whole different world.

Jesse