pic: Team 2451 Pwnage

[pwnageNick]

I love the low look of these swerves, I curious if you have trouble with tangling your wires. Does your software know when to unwind the swerves? How long does that take?

Our team did a non coaxial crab drive a few years back, and we didn't enjoy it very much. This year we did our first independent coaxial setup.

I'll answer this, as most of the team will be busy for the next few days and may not have time to answer. The modules have somewhere around 350 degrees of freedom on their rotation. There are hard stops to ensure that the module does not rotate past those 350 degrees in either direction so that the wires do not become tangled. However it is included in the code and the modules will automatically rotate the opposite direction 180 so occasionally it has a slight delay but due to the gearing on the banebot that rotates the module, it does this very quickly and doesn't effect driving too much. This is also a reason the drivers have been given so much practice time.

If slip rings were installed on each of the modules, then coaxial performance would be possible, such as the ones Bomb Squad uses this year. Up until they posted the info about theirs, we had trouble trying to find a slip ring module available on the market that was rated for the right specs and was not giant or extremely heavy.

We actually manufactured our own slip ring last year and while Al from 111 and Head Inspector said it would perform fine and he would pass it, there are no custom electrical systems allowed on an FRC bot, and it even uses custom slip rings as an example. Maybe one day they will revise that rule. Probably not though.

-Nick