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Unread 16-04-2010, 14:33
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Re: Mecanum or Swerve?

Quote:
Originally Posted by artdutra04 View Post
I disagree. The first year 228 did swerve was the first year we won a regional.
correlation != causation.

Just because your team won their first regional with a swerve design, doesn't mean that it's a good system. There are way to many variables that also have just as major effect on your regional win. The quality of drivers, your opponents, other mechanisms on your robot, the game itself, luck. There is simply too much room for other explanations.

That said, I've very little interest in swerve or mecanum drives. Sure, they're cool to prototype, but unless a team has many years of experience driving one (read: practicing with a swerve bot in the off-season), has the machine shop and hands to build it near perfectly, the coders to ensure it's working flawlessly, the pit crew to ensure it's maintained constantly, and a host of other things, I just don't see them as that great an asset. Sure the occasional team like 111 or 71 will make swerves work, but honestly, is it really worth the upkeep? Some may say yes. I say go with what's solid, can be easily maintained, can be easily adapted, and doesn't require two joysticks to control. And that, is a 4 wheel, 6 wheel, or 8 wheel drive. Let the creativeness show in how you play the rest of the game with your manipulator.