Re: Another chapter to the 6WD vs. Mecanum debate
 

As a team that does not have the space to create a full field for practice purposes, I can say that the biggest advantage mecanum gave us last year is one reason the team was enthusiastic about using it this year:

It controls exactly like a first person shooter, so kids good at these types of videogames have an inherent knack for mecanum controls that they do not for skid steering.

That, and nostalgia. 2010 was a great year for us, and that mecanum drive had a lot to do with it.

Re: Another chapter to the 6WD vs. Mecanum debate
 

AndyMark's mecanum wheels have certainly improved over the years.

The '08 6'' mecanum wheels were pretty bad - the plate was far too thin and would bend in on the rollers. Still, even with this problem our '08 bot was one of the most maneuverable at ever regional we attended; it was a nightmare to maintain, though (especially as I was the one fixing them in the pit between matches...ah, the memories).

No mecanum in '09, sadly.

The '10 6'' mecanum wheel were a vast improvement - thicker plate, better rollers. They still had occasional problems with sticky rollers, so you'd have to play with the lock nuts between every match to free them. Much less of a pain than '08, though. They also, like the '08 wheels, were manufactured to allow the rollers to be reversed, which while good in theory did get in the way of maintaining them a bit. Overall I'd give them a B - they did their job, and were certainly an improvement.

A quick glance at this year's generation of 6'' mecanum wheel seems to reveal that they've fixed most of my problems with the previous generations - they have removed the generic plate in favor of "left" and "right" wheels, which has allowed them to fix the access problems. The bolts seem to protrude a lot further out, as well, which makes it much more unlikely for you to unwittingly loosen them enough during maintenance to lose a roller in a match (this happened to us once or twice last year). The plate is nice and thick, too - they're claiming it supports a 400 pound load per wheel, which is great.

Unfortunately, having graduated and now being in Colorado means I won't get to see them in person, but I'm hoping they've finally worked all the kinks out of the design this year. They're certainly heading in the right direction, if nothing else.