Mecanum Differential Drive

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by efoote868

One could incorporate locking mecanum wheels to gain more traction, but the limitation this addresses is top speed / acceleration time to top speed. I haven't heard of a mecanum setup pushing 16 feet per second or higher in FIRST, which seems to be a fairly regular occurrence with tank drive.

Acceleration in FRC (with the exception of 2009's wonky drive surface/wheels) has never been traction-limited, so this is purely a function of the gear ratio people are using on their drives. There's nothing about a shifter which would provide any significant benefit to a mecanum bot; a well-designed mecanum drive is geared for high-speed at all times, because the ability to push is something you've already compromised on.

Your setup adds two gearboxes and two motors to the assembly, but I don't see how you get a significant benefit in return. When moving forward, you'd still have two CIMS pushing each side (as the auxiliary motors won't be doing anything, if I understand correctly), so you don't have any more effective, power-wise, than the standard setup.