422 - omniwheels in action

[burkey_turkey]

http://www.team422.com/EndofJanuarymovie.htm

that link should show you a video (youtube imbedded, 3min aprox.) of our omnidrive this year! We are very excited because our team has done a very similar drive every year, and we finally got everyone on board for experimenting with omni this year. This vieo was taken the night we got it all working, so there were still some limitations to the robot. We didnt max it out much because the battery/electronics werent mounted yet (thats been fixed). The code was also very poor. It was a cheap 10 minute code thrown together so we could drive. The final version will have some sort of rotation sensor thing so the wheels know if they are turning.

PS - the thing sticking up is the column for our arm (which is not complete)

[Lil' Lavery]

422 not using delrin skids!?!?!?! I think the world might implode.... ;)

[burkey_turkey]

haha, thats what our mentor said...

he was originally skeptical about us using omnis this year. He is always concerned about getting pushed around and/or wasting time on something that doesnt work, so omnis didnt appeal to him at all. Unfortunently for him, they are really sweet when done properly, and the team has been wanting to do these for a few years. We basically got his blessing to go ahead with it by convincing him that:

A: you never know until you try
B: the only chance we get to try is on a robot one year
C: if we will ever try it, this is a good year to try it
D: if it works, we have another tool in our belt for future years that let us experiment with diferent things and let us rely on a good set of omnis.

we got lucky that this year all 4 wheels touched the ground PERFECTLY without any necesary filing or spacing. this is surprising because all the measurements were near guestements that were drill pressed...

i would encourage all teams that think this video is cool to experiment with omnis in the offseason or even on a future robot. After all, the reason we have these comeptitions and build these robots is so we can learn how to build really sweet things that do really sweet things. Its not about coming in first if you can learn something that will help you come in first next year once youve mastered it.