Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

Pneumatic wheels have so much grip that you'd probably couldn't turn with this base. But, with mecanums, you have no viable way of easily getting over the defenses without a separate mecanism. If you want to be able to use pneumatic wheels as a backup, you'll probably need a 6-wheel center drop.

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

I took it as meaning have your shooter face the left or right side of your drive train. That way there's no reason to need to strafe into the corner, just drive straight in up against the side of the field until you hit the wall the driver stations are on. That gets you into the corner with no fancy drive train, and a pretty simple manuver for your drivers.

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

Maybe use a turret?

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

Here is our chassis crossing the 4" bump in 2012 with AndyMark 6" mecanum HD wheels. Worked fine on the real thing with a fully loaded robot.

https://youtu.be/jl8pHpCjQtY

There were deflector plates at 45 degrees on both sides of the wheels that extended to about 2.5" above the ground. Our wheel modules were clam shells that surrounded the wheel, included the bearings, and mounted our toughbox nano gearboxes.

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

This is not true, it makes it challenging but doesn't preclude you. There were plenty of robots who crossed the barrier in 2012 with mecanums, and that barrier was 4 inches tall by 6 inches wide.

Here are 4 videos of proof

Some use other mechanisms to help but they are still mecanum drive trains, and if they can cross the 2012 barrier, they can clear the Rockwall, and Moat easily. and honestly the Drawbridge, Portcullis, Sally Port, Ramparts, Chevalle de Frise, and Low Bar, have more to do with other parts of the robot then the mecanums themselves. So of the 9 obstacles mecanums can handle 8 of them with proper engineering, that isn't to bad.

Now I don't think mecanums are a good idea for different reasons but crossing the defenses isn't one of them.

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

I'm no expert at modular systems but yeah that looks like it will work. Just keep in mind extrusions shouldn't go down on that design they should be up to keep the clearance. I'm interested in knowing why you would want the interchangeability.
I'm personally hoping the reason why you want the interchangeability is some dope strategy...

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

We used big mecanum wheels during Breakaway...they did surprisingly well on those ramps. I think bigger ones could probably *manage* to get over most of the defenses.

However, we found out that even the impact of coming down off the Breakaway ramps eventually started bending the heck out of the roller support tabs, eventually jamming them. Later in the competition season a major pit task was fixing all the bent tabs....and at like 400 bucks for a set, we weren't in the position to have spares.

I think mecanums would eventually get wrecked in this game.

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

We used mecanums in 2010 as well. Only year we've ever done it. I wasn't on the team at the time, but we still have the chassis from our 2010 bot with wheels still attached, and they seem fine. This could have just been constant fixing, or we just got lucky. Either way, mecs offer little that another drivetrain can't offer you in this game, at the expense of being more likely to struggle with the defenses. A decent driver should be able to maneuver this field easily on a tank drive.

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

With the "rough terrain" and all the ramps, you are likely to bend the roller support tabs as Aur0r4 found. The team we were with in 2012 used the AM 8" Mecanums. If our robot ever touched the edge of one of the bridges when it was not straight on, even at low speed, it would bend some of those tabs. A jammed roller would cause the robot to drive erratically (normal and strafe). We got used to jacking the robot up between each and every match and having a crew of 4 people, each checking one wheel to make sure none of the rollers was jammed. If one was jammed, the bolt holding it on would have to be removed so that the tab could be twisted back "just right" using a pair of channel-lock pliers. This was not fun at all for the pit crew nor was it fun for the driver.

Re: Does this chassis look as if it would work?
 

It's no use being able to save time with mecanums if you get over the defenses into the opponents courtyard because you're using macanums