Mecanum Drivetrains

[cmrnpizzo14]

There are enough teams in the FLR area that you can find some easy resources right in town. 3173 has used mecanums this year and 2011. 191 has used it prettymuch every year I believe. 1551 has used mecanum or octocanum.

Honestly, we enjoyed our experience with it but we felt that we could accomplish equal or better driving with a simple kitbot on steroids. We prototyped it over the summer and loved it.

Tips:

-Remember to have your wheels in the "X" configuration as opposed to the "O"
-Nanotubes make construction very easy and helps save the hassle of chains but they are heavy and rather difficult to get to the bolts. If these are used, purchase spares for competition so that you can simply swap the whole nanotube instead of trying to pull one wheel off. We have found this to be faster.
-Keep the frame square but flexible. We found that this was difficult this year. If a frisbee became jammed in our hopper the best method to free it in match was to ram the wall. This freed the frisbee (most times) but unfortunately would mess up our nice square frame because we could not keep it perfectly rigid. We had a strategy this year that was not too reliant on driving so it wasn't a huge deal but our chassis team did have to resquare the frame after many matches.


For fun, ask 578 about their mecanum tank treads that Eric D. created. Inefficient, heavy, largely useless, but very cool.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14

1551 has used mecanum or octocanum.

We've used octocanum the past two years, and mecanum three others--and we're always upping our capabilities, especially with control. One thing I have my programmers working on this fall is using the gyro to compensate for wheels not working the way you want them to because you're driving over an irregular surface.

It's...interesting, anyway!

Either way, if you want to come down and check out what we've done in more detail, let me know and we'll set something up.

[Chadfrom308]

Our team in 2012 used mecanum wheels with regular traction wheels. The mecanums were on an offset axle that got pushed down with pnumatics. We were able to drive really well and place some nice defense.

I will say though, you have to be careful. Mecanums are can be dangerous. We got stuck on a ball one match and literally tore it to shreds in seconds. We also ran over team 67's go pro and spun our mecanums on it by accident. Luckily it was okay! I wish I could've saw that video though...

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Chadfrom308

I will say though, you have to be careful. Mecanums are can be dangerous. We got stuck on a ball one match and literally tore it to shreds in seconds. We also ran over team 67's go pro and spun our mecanums on it by accident.

Is that more dangerous than any other drive train?

Also, I would like to see that video, too!