[EricH]

Originally Posted by team3329

We were definitely looking into mechanum for the strafing ability. So the key is 4 independent motors huh? If thats the case we have a problem. We have 4 Jags and all show that they are working with their light. however, one of them is giving the signal that it is working but it doesn't turn the motor. The others turn the motor, but extremely slowly. The battery is fully charged, so that's not the problem. is there too little power going to each one? Is there something we are over looking?

I'm not sure about the Jags, so I'll leave that to the experts. But I'd check connections if you haven't already, and see if you can get some voltage readings on the inputs/outputs.

The key to mecanums is independently powering each wheel. Quick controls explanation follows; coding it is left as an exercise for the team.
--Front/back: all wheels forward/reverse
--Strafe (side/side): Front wheels forward, back wheels reverse/front backward, back forward, depending which way you're going
--Diagonal: Wheels not on diagonal powered the same way (Annoying physics here).
--Anything in between: various combinations of the above.
--Turning: Same as a 2WD, 4WD, 6WD, etc... It behaves like a 4WD when turning, though it doesn't bounce as much as a "sticky" 4WD does.

Oh, and the other thing about mecanums: you want their footprint to look like an O, but when the wheels are viewed from the top, they'll look like an X. This is normal.

Ether has posted a whitepaper on the physics behind mecanum drive at http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2390