Mecanum vs Treads

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Dumper FTW 435

I didn't know there was so much hate for mecanums

I would like to say that my team used mecanums quite effectively in 2011 and we were able to get it to work near perfectly without dealing with weight issues or most of the other issues people claim mecanums chronically suffer from. Of course, I think 2011 was a better year for mecanums for this year, but after seeing both treads and mecanums work well, I don't think we should just dissmiss one or the other without seriously considering them. I'm more curious about specific things this year that would suggest treads over mecanums or vice versa, I think the general pros and cons of treads vs mecanums are already well established.

In my opinion yhey ought to be compared to the pluses and minuses of a wheeled tank drive and various wheeled tank drive configurations with omni and traction wheels. Treads and mecanum drives aren't the only drives out there.

In 2010 we used mecanum wheels with reasonable success without using any suspension other than a flexible chassis. Driving was reasonably consistent even getting onto and over the bumps. The point many posters are trying to make is that you should be a little careful when designing a mecanum drive.

Edit: there are some really good posts out there discussing the theory, implementation, and control of a mecanum drive by Ether (among others) a thread search might yield some great information.