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Originally Posted by IndySam
Practice is practice, the statement was that they require more practice than six wheel is what I questioned, not if a team should use them. You just validate my point.
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IMHO, they require more practice because people aren't use to driving things that can slide sideways whenever they feel like it. People are good at picking up something they are use to... in the vast majority of cases the largely unconstrained motion of a mecanum drive is fairly foreign. A car or a tractor isn't quite skid-steer, but it is much closer to skid than mecanum. (Though FPS video games probably help somewhat in reversing this trend)
Think of it like all of the conventions in the machinery we operate every day. The gas pedal is always on the right, the clutch is always on the left, and the brake is in the middle/left on an automatic. There was a time when this wasn't the case, and if you ever get a chance to drive very old cars you will frequently find yourself with a very angry gearbox. (And driving a Model T is one heck of an experience if you can convince someone to teach you!)
Up through WWII, the French had backwards throttles on their airplanes to the rest of the Allies. If you import these planes back into the States you are required to flip the throttle the "right" way!
That said, I think they definitely have there place. If 190 had more time to refine their 2005 mecanum drive set-it-and-forget-it robot I think they would've been a top competitor.
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Originally Posted by BJC
I know that 2337 does extensive driver training which utilizes a very different mindset then driving a standard tank. They practice stuff like using the opponent's inertia to assist them and peeling off of defenders; a lot of things that are nearly impossible for a tank to do because they REQUIRE the ability to move sideways. So I would say that they require a similar amount of practice for the driver to become proficent (you can never have enough practice) but an entirely different mindset. This is what most teams don't do and a part of the reason why mecanum wheels have a bad name.
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Huh, that's pretty neat. I'd love to see an informational piece about what top teams do to train their drive teams.