Swerve Drive Modules

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by Madison

If your team isn't yet capable of building a 4WD frame that doesn't wreck ball bearings, you should not expect to have success with a swerve drive yet. Focus on improving your deficiencies instead of replacing them with all new ones and you'll find it to be a valuable experience.

Ding ding! I have to spread some rep around before giving Ms. Madison any more, but she deserves it.

In 2005, 2006, 2007, and a little bit in 2008, we struggled with throwing chains on our drives. At the single most inopportune moment, the robot would decide to drop a chain and do the robopeepee dance. in 2009, we put a priority on chain routing - the routes were clean, properly lined, and shortened - we had a great year with no drive problems. In 2010, our chassis flexed in ways we didn't realize until after the FRC season had ended, causing us to throw what we thought were properly aligned and tensioned chains; we put on structural supports on before the offseason events and ran them smoothly.
However, the notion around the team became "chains are nothing but trouble" - the truth is chains are fine. We just weren't implementing them correctly.
As I mentioned, this year we went to direct-drive mecanums right out of the gearboxes, with absolutely no complaints. This year taught us that simplicity brings success. I applaud you for pursuing the swerve drive as an offseason project - I think your team will learn a lot about iterative design, programming, and machining. However, I'd be careful about creating these with the 2012 or 2013 game in mind - as others have said, let the robot fit the game, don't force the game around your idea of what a robot should be.