Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Norris
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I was wondering if you pivoted around the traction wheels instead of the Mecanum wheels in the octocanum, if you would see any advantages because the pistons could act as a suspension system. I've been told that mecanum drive systems perform better with a suspension system, I would be interested in hearing from teams that have used suspension in their mecanum drives. But for me I would need to see a big improvement in acceleration/deceleration to advocate for using mecanum again.
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That is what we did. Not necessarily for the suspension, but we wanted the traction wheels to be the most outward wheels for stability, and on the the fixed axles for strength. Also, if there was an pneumatic failure, we wanted the default wheels to be the traction wheels.
Not shown in the sketch below, the pistons were vertical, one on each side, and they pushed down where the front and rear pivot arms met in the center of the robot. We used the 8" Andymark wheels, not by preference, but budget. We had a new, unused set on the shelf as spares from the prior year. Also not shown below, the transmissions and outer axle bearing were rigidly mounted to chassis.
Yes, 8 motors on drivetrain, 1 CIM and 1 CIM-U-LATOR/775 per wheel.
While I personally preferred the field-orientated driving, unfortunately (for me) mentors don't drive. Our driver preferred traditional controls, so that his orientation didn't change when swapping between traction and mecanums.