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Unread 11-04-2014, 13:37
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Re: Swerve Drive vs Mecanum Wheel drive?

Let me address some of the "mecanum has power loss" type comments:

in the forward/backward direction, assuming the same motors/gearbox efficiency & ratio, same wheel diameter, weight, etc: swerve, mecanum, and tank have the same power/acceleration/speed.
Assuming they all have the same wheel material, CofM, bumper configuration, etc, then in a pushing contest tank wins, followed by swerve (which gets closer to even as CofM/weight transfer issues are minimized). mecanum is a definite 3rd; however, this has nothing to do with the fact there are rollers (since they don't roll in this case), it is that they reach max force of friction before the others. Also, this does not equate to tank or swerve always having an "easy" time pushing mecanum around, nor does it mean that mecanum must suck at pushing, it just means that mecanum shouldn't be selected if pushing was a main criterion of your design.

moving at any other angle relative to the robot mecanum will have power loss due to turning motor power down/off in the code (such as in 45 degree when only 2 motors are driving), and roller friction losses. So in this ranking it goes swerve, mecanum 2nd, then definitely last tank (since it can't strafe at all). the significance of the differences matters on what the game is, and what your goals within the game are.
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