We built a
prototype using VEX parts this summer. This design is an outgrowth of those efforts. You can see more details on our website under
DEWBOT VI Drive Train and the control under
Steering There are two good papers that are linked to on the steering page that describes the math to make the wheels track smoothly.
As Gary pointed out the wheels don't use the same angle on the inner and outer wheel base. The four steering motors allow us to do both "Crab" and "Snake" drive steering. It also allows us to treat any side of the robot as the "front". Yes, it's a ton of motors, but we think the high agility will allow us to be effective players.
The engineering on the pivot along with the extra bearings is to support a full weight of the robot in a crash and bash environment. Last years robot spent very little time in the repair bay, we are hoping that will happen again this year.
Moving the code from last years base to this years has been a problem for the programming team, refactoring isn't easy. They have the drive working to where it will drive smoothly over the bump. If we ever get back into the shop (snow day here) they will so some tweeks.