Best omnidirectional drive trains in FIRST history

Originally Posted by msimon785

I cannot help but give my vote to 1717 the D'Penguineers and their 2011 swerve drive. I have seen many swerve drives, in both digital media and in person, and the D'Penguineers have undoubtedly (this being subjective, of course) set the new standard in Coaxial Swerve drive-trains. Here is a link to a video of them in competition, which is definitely worth a watch, ideally in HD. It's almost unbelievable how naturally and smoothly it drives.

Well, good luck on whatever you do build!

I believe the answer to my question lies in the swerve drive of 1717. Not only was that extremely fast and maneuverable, but it was some of the smoothest driving I've seen to date, even giving the Cheesy Poofs a run for their money this year! Anyone have any specs on that drive train?

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I'd also love to see a year and video please.

I've always thought 71 and 111 in 2006 were great with their systems. 2008 comes close too.

111 didn't have an omnidirectional drive in 2006.

[O'Sancheski]

Originally Posted by R1ffSurf3r

8 wheel swerve

I would like to see an 8 wheel swerve. Does 233 have something that they are prototyping in their labs for next year?

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

111 didn't have an omnidirectional drive in 2006.

Haha sorry, I just went back and watched the videos, I was thinking of 71 the whole time.

[CalTran]

I like 2010 Winnovations 6 Wheel Coaxial swerve. We were on their alliance 2010 at Greater Kansas City, and the next time I saw their robot they were competing on Einstein. Another close hit would be Team 16 Bomb Squads 3 wheel swerve.

[Aren Siekmeier]

Originally Posted by GCentola

Bomb Squad's (16) swerve drive. It continually amazes me year after year. It is fast, maneuverable, and makes any defense look silly. Our team is even considering prototyping a swerve drive after seeing them at IRI.

What sells it for me is that it is totally rock solid. Having worked with it for what, 10 years?, they have it in the bag, and they also have the smoothest driving (and one of the best drivers) I've ever seen.

[Tristan Lall]

This list isn't complete without including Joe Johnson's designs for 47 (now part of 51) in 2000 and 2001. Their 2000 robot is my favourite robot of all time, and was dominant in an era when parts still had to be sourced from the Small Parts catalogue. 2001 was a four-tread-drive, independently powered, independently steered swerve drive.

111 also has a history of excellent swerve drives—the world-championship-winning 2003 robot in particular, with its StangPS coprocessor and sketchable autonomous modes.

[Brandon Holley]

A personal fave:
1114's 2004 swerve(crab) drive that actuated up the steps.

It may not be the best omnidirectional drive of all time, but it was one of the most fun to watch...

-Brando

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Arefin Bari

I guess for a lot of you, robots from 2004 are old. However I thought Team 180, SPAM's omnidirectional chassis

I loved watching the hook on that thing deploy. It was truly awesome.

-Brando

[Arefin Bari]

Originally Posted by O'Sancheski

Does 233 have something that they are prototyping in their labs for next year?

I will be very surprised if I see team 233 with a swerve drive during the season.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Arefin Bari

I will be very surprised if I see team 233 with a swerve drive during the season.

I would be surprised to see PINK assembling a swerve drive at their first event of the season.

[R1ffSurf3r]

Originally Posted by Arefin Bari

I will be very surprised if I see team 233 with a swerve drive during the season.

especially if it's a two-speed

[Aren_Hill]

Well the best is obviously sitting in a CAD file on my laptop, (this is a joke, I've got plenty of fun ideas, but they currently are just ideas)

My vote from watching them this year is team 16's robot, 1717's was fast but nowhere near as fluid as the Bomb Squad, much of that has to do with the arranged steering methods 1717 uses (steering diagonal modules), vs 16's completely independent setup, this is my hunch from the background I've had with them.

[jwfoss]

Personally I'd never build a kiwi bot, but watching 1501 in 2010 was pretty sweet. They built a pair of awesome little robots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMVauiFfVXM

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/35176

[joeweber]

Probably not the best but it worked GRAYT for us. We won two engineering awards for it. Team 1322’s 6 wheel omni direction drive with a suspension. The only thing that would make it better is if we used gear differentials instead of ball differentials. Although it was mechanum wheeled, with the addition of the sets of omni wheels to make it six wheel drive it could push other robots better than a regular mechanum drive system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_rtqg838Nc