Quote:
Originally Posted by AlecMataloni
What's your reasoning?
The only pure mecanum team that's ever stood out to me was 2337's machine last year. Every year I see a multitude of mecanum teams that don't really implement them very well, drive very sluggishly, and get pushed around constantly.
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FIRST Team 1296 used mecanum last year and it worked well. We finished 2nd to 148 (by a single point in one match) during qual rounds in Dallas and did well Saturday afternoon. Our drive train ran perfectly all season - it still is. I think 148 has used something they called octocanum in the past (mecanum plus 4 high traction wheels). All to say that it CAN be done and done very well. It took a very good bot and good drivers to attempt to slow us down last year. We simply slide a little to one side or the other and push by on their corner. A 6-wheel drive bot will push around mecanum if they are pushing parallel to the long axis of the 6-wheel bot but that does not happen very often. Most of the time we had a little fun teasing 6-wheelers, spinning them around and faking them out.
The clues to making mecanum work are precise mechanical alignment and using encoders on all 4 wheels with good software. So its only a good choice for teams that can implement and support these prerequisites.
Winning robots have ultra-reliable drive trains that aid in implementing their game strategy. Given that platform - it is clever, reliable mechanisms on top of the robot that put you in the top 8. For example we had a quick, reliable arm and claw last year on top of a drive train we never touched after week 2 of the build season.
HTH