Quote:
Originally Posted by Ari423
Maneuverability will be important for placing gears, but in order to take advantage of a mecanum drive's maneuverability, the driver needs a lot of practice with the robot in different situations.
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I have never found this to be true. A mecanum drive controls *exactly* like a first-person shooter on any given game console--once told that, I have yet to have a student who can't drive it pretty well the moment they're handed the controls, and it doesn't take much time to get really good at it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ari423
While mecanum drives have the ability to be more maneuverable and can "run away" from a pushing match, often drivers get caught up in pushing matches anyway.
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This is the reason that I, coach of a team that's used mecanum four times and octocanum another four, agree that mecanum is definitely the wrong drivetrain for this year. My prediction is that monstrous defense (especially in the tournament) with criss-crossing robots and the restricted driving space around the airships is going to make most mecanum teams rue their choice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ari423
Assuming you mean torque, the mechanical influence, not torc, a necklace worn by the ancient Gauls, you are correct to a degree. Mecanum wheels have a forward CoF of about 0.7, compared to around 1 for traction wheels. This means you can gear your robot faster and not draw as much current. This does not, however, mean that you can completely disregard torque. You still need to make sure you have enough torque to accelerate your robot from a standstill and change directions quickly.
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Specifically, too many teams gear their drivetrain so fast that they lose too much acceleration on the low end, and ultimately traverse the field more slowly than if they'd have geared lower.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ari423
In general, I think there are very few cases (practically none) where a decent mecanum drive is better than a good WCD.
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I agree, though I'm a huge proponent of octocanum. It's highly competitive, impresses sponsors, and is psychotically easier (and cheaper) to implement than swerve. I highly recommend any team looking to branch out into other drive systems to give octocanum an off-season try.