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Unread 05-05-2012, 22:46
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CalTran CalTran is offline
Missouri S&T Senior
FRC #2410 (BV CAPS Metal Mustang Robotics)
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Re: Mechanum Wheel Sizes

Quote:
Originally Posted by EricDrost View Post
Not to be a downer but in most FRC applications a standard 6 wheel "drop-center" tank drive with grippy wheels like Colsons will bring you far better performance than a mecanum drive train.
I beg to differ on this point. The simple reason why tank usually outperforms mecanum drives is because drivers usually don't use mecanum to it's fullest potential. Mecanum drive is an unconventional drivetrain, thus it takes practice more than anything to be able to use the strafing regularly in your driving. People generally are not used to having that ability when driving, nor are they used to being able to spin on a point. The biggest thing you need if you're going mecanum is practice using it.

Aside from that, everything else Eric said is true about mecanum, though our team managed it in season. More complicated omnidirectional drives (ie swerve or octacanum) would require much more time.
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