View Single Post
  #19   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 12-04-2010, 19:20
Aren_Hill's Avatar
Aren_Hill Aren_Hill is offline
Build Nifty Things
no team
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Rookie Year: 2005
Location: Menlo Park CA
Posts: 1,218
Aren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond reputeAren_Hill has a reputation beyond repute
Re: Mecanum or Swerve?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffy View Post
If you want an omnidirectional drivetrain, it appears that swerve would be the best because it gives omnidirectional motion with better traction and without the power loss of mecanum.
However, our meccanum drivetrain has served us very well this year. When we decided we wanted to have omni directional capabilites they were our best option because our team is not capable of building a successful swerve in 2 weeks.
The mecanum does have (atleast) one advantage, swerve has a lag while the pods turn. One other might be weight. If you direct drive 6" mecanums then it should surely be lighter than 4 (or 6) swerve pods, chain, and sterring assemblies. This did not prove to be the case for us this year because we are chain driving 4 8" wheels with 4 toughboxes.

For a game like breakaway where pushing isn't a factor unless your playing a defensive strategy, you really can't go wrong with either.
weight of an 8" AM mecanum = weight of one of our swerve modules, without making them anorexic

The weight of a swerve system will come down iteration by iteration, but the same goes for a solid tank system which can go much lower.
__________________
A guy who likes robots.
1625->3928->148->1296->971 oh dear