First team with swerve drive?

[ratdude747]

2783 EOT made a "unicorn drive" in 2009.


it had 4 pods. each had 1 cim coaxially driven (by way of a thin gates belt) and next to the cim was a globe for steering (also connected by a gates belt). each pod had 2 rover wheels, for a total of 8 wheels. steering position was determined by 4 analog encoders. no dead zones.

by definition and posted examples, this might have been the first "unicorn drive"

not bad for a rookie bot?

i do not have much in the way of good pictures. I can get some good ones tomorrow (it is still used as a demo bot).

I do have a couple from the Mt. Washington FLL regional (tickets were raffled for chances to drive it). They are attached.

Upon my move to the team, i was shocked that they built it as rookies. I surely thought that it had been done by a veteran team earlier (coxiaxial 4 wheel independ. swerve), but according to this thread this may have been the first. go figure.