Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo
1) Mecanum drives are not difficult to build.
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For several years we've used 12:1 or 9:1 Banebots p80 gear boxes to direct drive four Andymark 6" HD mecanum wheels on a kitbot frame. (The axle should be supported on the other side by some kind of pillow block.) This year the "canum" part of our octocanum is... 9:1 Banebots p80 gear boxes direct driving 6" HD mecanum wheels.
It's easy to assemble and almost foolproof in terms of the mechanics. (Mecanics?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo
2) Mecanum drives are not difficult to program.
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If you're not using sensor feedback, this is indeed true.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo
3) Mecanum drives are not difficult to drive.
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In fact, they drive exactly like a 1st person shooter -- most kids these days find driving a mecanum robot extremely intuitive. You can slap together a drivetrain in a day and spend hours and hours practicing on it... Though I would of course recommend that any new drivetrain be done in the off season!
...all that said, there's a reason we upgraded to octocanum, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slijin
In my opinion, this is a rather critical design decision that you may want to consider more thoroughly; I would avoid going with a semi-flexible frame.
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Looks like added complexity to me. It's not like the robot just dies the moment one wheel is in the air -- this is what practice is for! A centered CG and a rugged, non-racked frame is more important than a flexible frame.