Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
You might as well ask JVN what the reasoning was for using a nonagonal frame and swerve drive back in '08. I want to say I remember someone on that team saying it was to make it easier to go through traffic, but can't remember who, or if that was actually what they said.
I would consider it as "ease of getting through traffic" myself--you can use the robot as a wedge to split apart defenders (or move defenders away from the wall) if need be .
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Lap runners in 2008, such as 148, required significantly different strategic design than the "general" robot does. The strategic advantages of round-ish, and more importantly, small for 148 are very different than the drivers behind most hexagonal/octagonal drivebases in 2014.
I don't think you'll see much of a wedging effect, given that bumpers exist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo
I thought a main benefit of octagons was to make the robot bigger. Allow wider collectors and such.
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It does allow more total area, but actually reduces your sidelengths, resulting in smaller under or through-bumper collection mechanisms. Over-bumper size would be determined by the rules of a particular game's maximum size (how far you can exceed bumper perimeter, total cylinder size, etc.).