First team with swerve drive?
 

I have been wracking my brain trying to think of the first team in FRC with a swerve drive system, can you help me out?

Edit: why not also mecanum, "kiwi", or other omni-drive setups.

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

Earliest one I know of was Team 47's in 2000.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/12949

I believe someone had one in 1998 or 1999 but I can't remember who it was.

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

First mecanum drive in FRC I believe was in 2005, team 357 (showing my regional bias here...I want to say other teams had them in 2005 as well).

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

190 also had one that year

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

I remember the big stir when Chief Delphi lifted up the hood on their robot that year. It was a coaxial drive as I remember. A lot of chain running around the top of the chassis.

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

Chief Delphi 1998 had a 2-wheel swerve. This was the first swerve drive...
Sometimes referred to as "delphi drive" in the old days.

-John

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

Great info. Any idea when the first 4-wheel swerve was made?

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

Is there a shorter name, widely understood within the CD community, for a 4-wheel independent-steering and independent-driven drivetrain, with unlimited rotation of the wheels and sensors, and no gaps in the sensor feedback?

If not, could a longtimer here please invent one? It sure would be useful when discussing control methods.

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

The Unicorn drive?

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

I don't think there is one, so:

How about a "pod" drivetrain, where each wheel is in a pod and each pod is independent of the others?

BTW, don't just limit it to 4. 16 has done a 3-wheel pod drive for years.

Might not be unlimited rotation, but it sure gets the job done.

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

Some systems with most of those features have the name "pod" in them. Given the number of hypothetical features listed, though, I'm tempted to dub it a "spherical chicken drive".

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

Theory Drive, because you'll never get a robot like that in practice :rolleyes:

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

Well, that's what it is then, christened with JVN gravitas.

This will save me a whole lot of typing.

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

The closest I know a team came to this task would be 469 in 2007.

4wd independently steered, independently driven (and 3 speed shifters).

However, it was motor in module so was not infinite rotation.

They did nail the control aspect well, which few teams with such drives do.

Re: First team with swerve drive?
 

ChiefDelphi did 4wd swerve for the 1999 game, as well as the 2001 game.