Quote:
Originally Posted by D.Allred
You'll have to define "other types of drive trains." There is a big leap between kit bot and 4 wheel independent steering.
Here's our approach.
We have always used skid steer instead of investing resources in omni-directional drive trains. I don't see that changing for 2017. We may switch to the kit bot or VexPro Versaframe to speed up construction.
We used kit base components for our 2013 robot, but had to build our own frame for packaging reasons. Every other year we have built a west coast style skid steer drive train. We do this primarily because we can, not because it is better than a kit base.
In either case, there really is no drive train "development" for us. A west coast style drive train is part of the tube and gusset construction technique we use for the base and scoring section frame. Since we have the milling machines to manufacture our own tubes, it is very easy to customize the wheel spacing and frame dimensions to suit the game. It did take time to develop bearing mounts and gearbox mounting systems. There are now COTS solutions readily available for most of these needs.
David
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By "other" I mean some sort of omni-directional drive train as a simple skid steer is something we already know how to do and we can purchase and be running very quickly. We have attempted swerve twice in the past, the first time we were very successful, 2009. The second time, we don't talk about that robot much, 2013, the swerve system was gone by our second regional. I therefore have been exploring that path along with the octo-canum and butterfly paths.
The lack of a drive train development time is an issue I see on my team, as much as this would be an exercise on how to build another drive it is more an exercise in what other options are out there and how to go about choosing the best one. We have a lot of new students who have no idea what the difference is between a mecanum, omni, and traction wheel and they are even more clueless when presented with the question, "what is a (insert your favorite drive style here) drive?" This lack of knowledge often results in us building another skid steer purely for ease and skimming through an important part of the early development of our robot. (not that skids are bad, I certainly like them I just see many competitive advantages to being able to move in any direction)