Having read
this as well as the pleathora of other threads explaining the pros and cons of swerve, and the 1625 whitepaper on their swerves through the ages, our team would like to pursue creating a swerve drive as an out of season project.
No, this does not mean we are going to try and design a swerve drive for the 2013 season.
We are designing a swerve system so that our team will, should the need arise in the future for a swerve drive, have some first hand details on how to pursue a competition swerve drive.
That being said, we had a few questions that I figured ChiefDelphi would be able to answer.
The first and foremost question is the wheel modules and independence of each. As far as we know, there are some basic types of module. independence:
Chain all 4 modules together
Chain each side together
4 Independent modules
If we had to make the decision right now, we would chain each side's module together. Our reasoning behind this is because we believe this iteration is the "simpelest" method of swerve while maintaining some amount of maneuverability. As far as we have been able to tell, the added complexity of 4 independent modules for the added driving tricks added are not worth the time or research.
Is this the right decision? If you could provide personal examples or logical reasoning as to why independent modules are a necessity vs. keeping sides tied together than that would be appreciated.
Secondly, at CTTD this weekend I was fortunately to get a first hand look at 3928's revolutionary swerve drive modules. Between using their modules as a basis for design and buying a WildSwerve module from Andy Mark to use as a model (Blanking on who I saw that did this; been reading too many threads on swerve to remember what came from where) which would be suggested? I am leaning towards using 3928's swerve as a basis for design because it seems to somewhat help with keeping the weight of the modules down.
Thirdly, wiring. The obvious implication of swerve modules are that they are not infinitely rotating, due to the twisting of the power wires. What we would like to know is if it is possible to make one that would be infintely rotating, and how one would design for this. If not then how does one ensure that the position and rotation of the wheels are correct?
If this thread could be kept purely to the physical aspects of swerve that would be appreciated. There are plenty of threads and papers also describing the programming of said drive, and our programmers will visit them as necessary. Thank you.