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Unread 21-09-2012, 14:21
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ENIAC ENIAC is offline
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AKA: Matthew Petersen
FRC #5958 (Blue Wave Robotics)
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Rookie Year: 2009
Location: Providence, RI
Posts: 94
ENIAC is a jewel in the roughENIAC is a jewel in the roughENIAC is a jewel in the roughENIAC is a jewel in the rough
2 Wheel Swerve (2 swerve, 2 omni)

I had an idea for a novel drivetrain (or at least what I think is novel, someone may already have come up with this), and I wanted to have it checked out:

With a diamond wheel formation, the two corners on the long axis have swerve wheels mounted, and the corners on the short axis have omni wheels mounted, with their plane of rotation parallel to the long axis. The two swerve wheels are chained or belted to allow for simultaneous turning.

Basically, it allows for omnidirectional motion, but uses fewer swerve wheels and so is less mechanically complex*. The downside is that traction falls off towards one direction, but that's a sacrifice you already make with tank. Allows for most of the capabilities of swerve as far as I can tell.

Thoughts?

*call me out on this if I'm wrong