Scouting Advice? FTC to FRC help?

[Abby341]

Tank drives often opt. for wheels with higher traction, their almost always round, nothing too special about them, they are better for pushing . Omni wheels are just round wheels with smaller wheels laying perpendicularly on the wheel it allows for easier turning. Mechanum wheels look like wheels are slicing into the larger wheel, they are supposed to make changing directions easier, they are the most obscure looking out of all the wheels. Drop center drives are fairly common, wheels are slightly lower in the middle making turning tighter.

[EricH]

A "jump" drive, as I recall, switches between two drive systems. The most common are the "octocanum" or "butterfly" drivetrains, which switch between a traction wheel and a mecanum wheel, or occasionally an omni wheel.

Just to give a little more detail into swerve or crab drive, there are a number of different subtypes, but in the interest of simplicity: the robot can go in any direction without turning. Some internal wheel-turning configurations can turn the robot, some cannot. Some require lots of chain, some do not.

And, to elaborate on West Coast Drive (WCD): A "true" WCD is 6WD, dropped center wheel directly driven from a 2-speed gearbox on each side, with chain runs to the outer wheels, and all wheels cantilevered outside of the frame. They've been used for over 10 years, and have been very effective the whole time. There are a number of variations and tweaks; the most common is to move the wheels inside of the frame and use chain drive on all of them. 8-wheeled WCDs have been cropping up as well.