Mecanum Wheels - How do they work?

[Team3763 Adam]

My team and I are looking at using Mecanum wheels for this year's competition as a means of strafing. My few questions are:

• Could they be our only form of Drive wheels for forward and side movement, or would it be best to pair them with another set of wheels to allow for seperate forward and side movements?

• How do they work?

• How should they be mounted on a Robot Chassis. IE should the diagonal wheels be slanted in opposing directions - either away from the center of the robot or towards. ///-CenterOfRobot-\\\ OR \\\-COR-///

• What form of drive in LabVIEW would they be programmed with? Arcade but with different inputs on the joysticks? Or...

Any and all diagrams/pictures/screenshots of LabVIEW are welcome!