pic: FTC 4977 - The Black Box

[Andrew Lobos]

Here's a video from one of our matches.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gk5cjU45MA

The PID tuning on the rotation motors is still a bit rough, which causes some of the left and right misalignment you see.

[5383robotsrule]

what language did you guys use to program this ? and is there any cad of the swerve modules ?

[Andrew Lobos]

Originally Posted by 5383robotsrule

what language did you guys use to program this ? and is there any cad of the swerve modules ?

We used RobotC - the code for this robot is available on GitHub at https://github.com/FTCTeam4977/Robot2012-2013

I'll talk to the mechanical guys about getting the CAD up - the modules were CADed, but most of the parts were COTS or made with drills.

The modules shown in the picture were made with 100% Tetrix parts - don't do this if you can avoid it. We switched the side plates of the modules out for stronger plates and it vastly improved the performance and rigidity of the modules.

[Wren Hensgen]

Our CAD work, along with everything else the LANlords have created in Inventor over the years is available at GrabCad.

Link to the swerve modules here:

https://grabcad.com/library/lanlords...gn-2012-2013-1

[5383robotsrule]

thanks so much now i can convince my teammates to choose swerve drive

[Andrew Lobos]

Originally Posted by 5383robotsrule

thanks so much now i can convince my teammates to choose swerve drive

If you decide to go this route, I really recommend you try to build a prototype over the summer. We had a working testbed before the season started, and we were still improving and iterating on components during the competition season.

While FTC gives you a lot more freedom to make changes between events, implementing a complex system like swerve comes with a lot of challenges.

[5383robotsrule]

how did you guys drive the robot ?

[Andrew Lobos]

Originally Posted by 5383robotsrule

how did you guys drive the robot ?

The left gamepad stick controlled translation, and the right stick's X axis controlled rotation. Note that the left and right sides were chained together, so rotating and translating at the same time wasn't possible.