Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
I think that's what we call a crab drive. 
I think the main reason that ball drives aren't more popular is that there are swerve, crab, omni, and mecanum drives to choose from, some of which are simpler and some of which are more complex to plan and easier to build. |
Actually, yea, it is pretty much crab drive... but it still would like pretty
But my latest design is far different from what I originally intended to do. My first designs involved using a sort of gear like wheel above the ball which would be attached to the motor. The gear would run along the top of the ball and on the poles there would be a turning mechanism where you could stop moving the ball and turn in another direction. The wheel above would rest on a turning device which would be controlled by controlled by the 5th motor.
Now I received criticism from my mentors that it would be too difficult to land on the exact tooth to have it turn. It would also be a slow job if it were possible since you would need to slow the motor down so it COULD stop when it needs to.
So instead of teeth the wheel on top of the ball would have bumps on it and on the sphere it would have sorts of crators. The bumbs would fit into it and because it would fit loosely inside you can stop at anytime and turn when you need to.
But yet again I'm rethinking the design. The whole point of what I'm designing is to make a drive train that is extremely menuverable and controllable which at the same time obtain a fast speed. Rolling it from the top like a normal gear doesn't sound like it could reach the highest speeds and having to stop the robot to move again everytime would make it even slower.
That's what I'm trying to solve and I think my latest idea might be an improvement compared to my original ones.