Mecanum or 6WD

[evoluti1]

In the end, our team is going with 6WD. The choice came down to this: A 6WD has two advantages over mecanum:

It is faster. We used mecanum in 2010, and noticed that as we accelerated, we lost power from the slipping of the rollers; however, to me, this didn't seem like a significant loss.

Secondly, it gets better traction. (I was talking with someone from 330 at one of the regionals, and they had put a mecanum drive bot in a pushing match with the 6WD. Mecanum lost consistently, even with the same gearing).

The Mecanum Drive has one advantage: its ability to drive sideways.

Here's the rub: Driving sideways would be a solution to the problem of scoring accurately, reliably and quickly. We could also solve that problem by having the driver practice with the alternative drive option. We decided on 6WD, and our plan is to give him weeks of practice on tank after ship and before regionals with the kit bot.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by evoluti1

Secondly, it gets better traction. (I was talking with someone from 330 at one of the regionals, and they had put a mecanum drive bot in a pushing match with the 6WD. Mecanum lost consistently, even with the same gearing).

IIRC, it was a 4WD (2003 drill motor drivetrain). Same principle, though. We also put those two through the block/get around block routine. Mecanum still lost! Because mecanum lost both pushing and block evasion, the 6WD stayed on our competition robot. Results of that were good; this was in 2005.

If 330 ever saw that mecanum would be an advantage, they could do it. The mecanum that lost to the tank drive systems had two years of development behind it. Knowledge doesn't disappear very well...

[Charmander]

The debate between Mecanum and 6WD is very subjective to the game itself. However each team analyzes and decides on which drive system is "better" for the suited game differs from team to team. According to the poll, 6WD is favored this year. THAT is a fact.