[dtengineering]

A team we saw in Portland in 2007 (I believe) had done up a standard 6wd system using worm gears and had calculated the relative efficiency of using a single worm gear vs. multiple spur gears. Their calculations showed that the two systems were comparable... if not equal, at least close enough that they chose to build the worm gearbox in hopes of achieving some anti-backdrive benefits to make them more resistant to pushing.

Now I know it would be really helpful if I could remember what team it was or where to find a picture of their robot... but perhaps someone will recognize the team I am talking about and post that info here.

I don't remember their drive system as being either devastatingly effective, or terribly problematic... I just remember it being cool because it was something different, and quite elegantly designed.

In many cases a 4cim drive has more power than a team actually needs most of the time and some teams have been quite effective with 2cims driving a 4wd or 6wd drive train. This suggests to me that if you try building a worm swerve you might come up with a cool system... perhaps not the ultimate in mechanical efficiency, but perhaps lighter and simpler than using bevel gears... and ultimately something a bit different, unique and kind of cool. So not to disagree with the concept that you lose some efficiency with a worm drive, but perhaps it is not prohibitive if you see the potential for benefits in other ways.

Jason