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Unread 22-02-2014, 17:28
RachelDoby RachelDoby is offline
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Re: Robowranglers 2014: Vader

Regarding our drivetrain, Vader uses the next iteration of our articulating drivetrain, originating with the one used on our 2010 robot: Armadillo. In 2010 we used a drivetrain, referred to as the Nonadrive, that consisted of a five omni wheel H-drive, plus four traction wheels for optional pushing.

In the new iteration, the "Decadrive", we are using a Nonadrive with two center wheels instead of one. The two center wheels freely pivot about a gear that is powered by the CIMs. There are no separate actuators to move these wheels up and down, they are tilted by the drive CIMs. When the drive motors power it one way, the wheels pivot, such that when one wheel contacts the ground, we are able to strafe sideways.

The cool thing about this drivetrain is that when the center wheels are not in use, they don't touch the ground and as such do not interfere with the normal forward-backward driving (and they don't get in the way of our sweet power-slides). However, when one side one the module is dropped, the wheel digs in and tries to force itself downward, thus lifting up the robot, and allowing us to easily crab across the field.

Depending on which way the drive motors move, it drops the wheel which will naturally want to "dig in". We think this is pretty cool.