Quote:
Originally Posted by KrazyCarl92
Even with a field-centric drive, I have witnessed many first-time drivers struggle to grasp omnidirectional driving in the time they can easily grasp simple arcade drive. It's the mind set of properly using the drive train by translating in multiple axes rather than always rotating to change direction that most seem to struggle with. Re-orienting the robot to change direction is intuitive since that's how most things we are used to work (humans, cars, etc.). Keeping the robot facing a constant heading while changing direction is counter-intuitive for most, while it may seem easy for others.
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Exactly.
I've never driven an omidirectional robot, but have talked to and observed many of their drivers. The best ones (1640, 1717, etc.) all highly prioritize driver practice, and through this extra work can bring out the advantages associated with the extra maneuverability. However, the worst ones just drive their mecanum or kiwi drive as if it was a glorified tank drive with huge wheels and rollers.
I have driven both Cheesy Drive (arcade) and regular tank, and can say that even Cheesy was more difficult to learn than tank. With tank, pretty much any old kid can walk up to the driver station and start driving, while with Cheesy drive, you have to take a few moments to figure it all out. There just appears to be something extremely intuitive about one joystick controlling one side of the drivetrain. However, I will admit that Cheesy Drive and other non-tank driver setups have higher ceilings than tank. Drivers (with practice) can do things with those systems that are amazing.
But just like in drive trains, to take advantage of fancy driver setups, you need experienced and practiced drivers.