Mecanum on the bridge?!

[eddie12390]

We've also done some testing with a mecanum DRIVE TRAIN (Keep this in mind, there was no extra weight on the robot than the necessary electronics, the frame, and the wheels)

We were able to climb over the bump WITHOUT the assistance of any sort of wedge while using 8" Mecanum wheels. In order to satisfy my curiousity, I also rammed the bump at full speed and was able to climb over with no trouble. The only time that we had a problem was when you WEREN'T quick enough and the robot bottomed out. (Which was rather simple to stop from happening entirely) Wedges were added later and did make it easier to climb over. We used some sort of bent metal bar that our mentor picked up a local hardware store.

We also tested two bridge materials one of which was mildly representative of a legitimate bridge and the other was a plywood mockup. The "mildly representative" bridge was essentially a folding table at a 45 degree angle and we were able to climb it AS LONG AS we had some speed before we attempted to climb. We were able to get to the top of the table in ~3.5 seconds (depending on the driver). On the plywood bridge, we were able to climb in no time at all. We also were able to balance rather easily as we were able to spin on the spot and better focus our mass.

Keep in mind that these tests may not be at all representative of a 120 pound robot.