Quote:
Originally Posted by Gdeaver
Over the years I have only seen a few Mecanum bots that have true omnidirectional movement on the field. They could strafe at best. We love to have our way with them. There have been many times where we had to defend a good scoring Mecanum on our alliance from the opposing alliance defense. I have yet to see a Mecanum on the field have control of chassis orientation and drive direction. I would choose a well developed 6 or 8 wheel tank over Mecanum any day.
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The problem is not with the drive train. The problem is with teams that don't properly know how to use it.
Mecanum is a very easy system to implement and use. Code is readily available; we had ours built and programmed within a day when we used it in 2011. This makes it a viable option for low-budget, low-experience teams looking for a quick fix.
In my experience (and this is a broad generalization - I'm not talking about any particular team), teams that use mecanum drive aren't as advanced regarding gameplay strategies. Driving is all about anticipation. Most mecanum-based offensive strategies are all about avoiding defense, not getting into pushing matches.
Mecanum systems aren't as good at pushing because they don't need to be.
Also, if a team does find itself in a pushing contest and is outmatched, it needs to find a way to disengage without pushing back. Mecanums, if used properly, can do this well. Unfortunately, most teams don't utilize this*.
On the other hand, most teams that use swerve drive, and have iterated it to the point of usefulness on the field (I've seen more bad swerves than I have bad mecanums), have a degree of experience and wiliness about them. They're usually well-practiced and well-coached so that they don't get into bad situations in the first place, and if they do, they can get out of them with ease.
*Watching matches, I'm often reminded of the cartoons where Wile E. Coyote is trying to outrun a rocket. He could simply dive to the side and the rocket would fly by, but that never occurs to him.