Quote:
Originally Posted by DMike
Why wouldn't mecanum be a reasonable choice for this game? Maneuverability would seem to be a benefit as well as the direct drive. The court is a flat surface with vertical obstacles. We have tested a 6 inch set of wheels on many surfaces including asphalt roads, light gravel, wood, tile, rug, compact dirt and more. The wheels handled it all, they were very durable. The side load from pushing seems acceptable, front and rear a bit less. With some good programming and driving, this should be a good system. It might even roll straight up the tower.
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A lot of teams are allured by the whole "manoeuvrability" aspect of mecanum, but in reality it isn't that cut and dry. What you gain with a third axis you lose in traction and power. Since the omnidirectional motion of meccanums is produced by vector summation, you'll always have some sort of power loss in whatever direction you go in. Combine that with the low coefficient of friction, your robot may be able to go sideways, but you won't be going fast, and your drivetrain will not have much power, which is never an ideal combination. A 6 wheel skid drive is proven to be far superior in every category, especially since the traction makes up for the lack of sideways movement. But, let's not turn this into a meccanum bashing thread again, shall we?
The main important reason for your choice was because you thought it would be cool and would be a neat learning experience, and that's all that really should matter when it comes down to it. I also like the paint job on this drivetrain, it definitely looks neat!