Team 4143 Sir Twerve'alot 2016

[RyanShoff]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9x06bqDGrw

http://gallery.marswars.org/2016-build-season/page/5



Tank treads + swerve == twerve

[The other Gabe]

you guys always make unique and crazy brilliant designs, I'm excited to see how this does

[mrnoble]

Grover will always be my favorite video, but this is my favorite robot for 2016.

[Whippet]

I never thought I'd ever see a tracked swerve drive in FRC. Congratulations on surprising us all! I'm definitely looking forward to watching this machine compete!

[BBray_T1296]

Has science gone too far?

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by BBray_T1296

Has science gone too far?

Nah, not until someone actually builds this: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/31816

Fun fact - Alex Norton also designed this back in the day: All-terrain track driven swerve http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/28490

.

[Jay Burnett]

How are you getting the wires from the Talon srx to the Power Distribution Board? I assume some sort of slip ring, but i could be wrong. Thanks, and Great robot!

[RyanShoff]

Originally Posted by Jay Burnett

How are you getting the wires from the Talon srx to the Power Distribution Board? I assume some sort of slip ring, but i could be wrong. Thanks, and Great robot!

We tested sliprings. The CAN bus functioned without issue through 4 sliprings. We removed them because the 12 (6 on each side) stiff 12 gauge wires were a mess. They may go back on the bot, but it is working pretty well with plain old wires.

A multiturn hard stop is also in the design. But they were removed after we had one steel nut gall to an aluminum shaft. It took two very long wrenches to remove them. They may go back on later.

The SRX mag encoders in absolute mode are really nice for this application. They keep track of rotations even through a Roborio reboot. As long as the wires are unwound when power is first applied, we should know how many times the wires are twisted.

Right now it is just wires and software.

[Jay Burnett]

Originally Posted by RyanShoff

We tested sliprings. The CAN bus functioned without issue through 4 sliprings. We removed them because the 12 (6 on each side) stiff 12 gauge wires were a mess. They may go back on the bot, but it is working pretty well with plain old wires.

A multiturn hard stop is also in the design. But they were removed after we had one steel nut gall to an aluminum shaft. It took two very long wrenches to remove them. They may go back on later.

The SRX mag encoders in absolute mode are really nice for this application. They keep track of rotations even through a Roborio reboot. As long as the wires are unwound when power is first applied, we should know how many times the wires are twisted.

Right now it is just wires and software.

Thanks for the answer! Any chance we get CAD at some point?

[The_ShamWOW88]

Awesome design!

[esi90696]

The engineering behind those modules is phenomenal. Can we get a close up picture of them, or perhaps the CAD? I would love to take a look.

What advantages did you find in using a tank-tread swerve module over a large-diameter wheel? Why did your team decide on using a swerve drive over a typical drive base?

Overall, I love the robot. Cannot wait to see it in action!