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Unread 11-01-2009, 19:28
Ian Curtis Ian Curtis is offline
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FRC #1778 (Chill Out!)
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Re: Crab Drive Questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by craigboez View Post
1. Has anyone tested a previous crab drive bot on Regolith with the new wheels and trailer? Are there significant improvements to manueverability vs a skid/tank steer drivetrain?

2. Is it within the realm of possibilities for a rookie team to implement a crab drive robot?

3. Is there a whitepaper on how to build a crab steer? I've looked, but come up empty.

4. Does anyone sell a "crab module", or are those all custom built?
1. Never built a crab drive, but look at 1629's drive tests with a 4wd drive base. They have just as much control on Regolith as we've had on carpet previously. So, it's definitely possible (and much much easier!) to build a 4wd system with pretty darn good control.

2. Depends on the team. If you've got a few engineers, probably. If you don't have much engineering support, it's still possible, but it will take a lot of your time, which would probably be better spent building a ball collector of some sort.

3. I've seen the CAD files of 148's 2008 crab drive on Chief Delphi. I don't remember where, but they're attached to a post somewhere, if you want a starting point.

4. To my knowledge all crab drives are custom.

Have you considered something less than a full crab drive? It would be far easier to build 1 or 2 rotating modules, which would give you some of the more precise control a full crab drive could provide.

Hope that helps!
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