Quote:
Originally Posted by z_beeblebrox
Don't underestimate the power of the kitbot. 2013's new and improved kitbot performs better than many, if not most, custom drivetrains and, possibly most importantly, is quick and cheap, so you have more time to spend on developing other systems for the robot.
Additionally, with simple modifications, such as building 1114's kitbot on steroids, adding higher traction wheels or perhaps shifting transmissions.
Personally, I haven't played enough with Mecanums enough to give a verdict on their performance, but from what I've seen, a decently constructed, well driven tank drive can often outperform all but the best Mecanum drives in everything but going sideways. When considering Mecanum, you have to decide if going sideways is worth being slower and having less traction.
Post #254! Go Poofs!
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Mecanum is good for when you need an omnidirectional drive system but don't have the time/resources/money/programming team to devote to swerve or butterfly drive. For example, we didn't make the decision to go mecanum until just before the start of week 2 during the build season, after realizing that an omnidirectional drive could be very advantageous.
I'd take a mecanum kitbot with basic WPI code over a hacked together and poorly programmed swerve drive any day.
If you really, and truly need an omnidirectional drive train, I'd start with mecanum and plan to go to swerve or butterfly later.
If you don't, look at some of the tank drives with traction (and sometimes omni) wheels around FRC, such as Team Titanium's Tremendous Turning Twinspeed Tank Transportation in use on this year's robot.