Crab drive steering

[Aren Siekmeier]

Originally Posted by Ether

The wheelbase and trackwidth do figure into the inverse kinematics.

When calculating the omega cross r term yes (for a unicorn drive, in which case you're already doing that math anyway, you just need to plug in a different r vector for wheel position), but for standard crab, you can drive in a straight line in any direction with all four motors at full speed with the wheels in the orientation I described. I haven't rigorously proven it, but my own intuition regarding the torque exerted by each wheel, it shouldn't be an issue.

Originally Posted by Ether

Not all optical encoders are incremental. There are absolute optical encoders.

Good to know. I've only ever seen/worked with incremental ones, and absolute clearly have their advantages. I still like mags better though . However, both have their strengths.