pic: Drivetrain Concept

[RyanCahoon]

Originally Posted by randantor

We experimented during build with field-centric drive controls for our H drive. The difference in power between the X and Y drive directions meant that it wasn't particularly useful because the robot still needs to be pointing forwards to go at any decent speed for travel. Also, our team specifically isn't able to get access to a decent-sized area for driver practice very often, so the additional time needed for our driver to get used to it didn't seem worth it.

What are your thoughts on using something like Ether's Halo Auto-Rotate controls with an H drive?

[randantor]

Originally Posted by RyanCahoon

What are your thoughts on using something like Ether's Halo Auto-Rotate controls with an H drive?

After offseason modifications, our center wheel is now pneumatically actuated, so it isn't in contact with the floor when we aren't trying to strafe. There is a noticable difference in acceleration when the wheel is down because we lose weight from the other wheels. The center wheel output follows a half-second ramp from 0 to full power, and the time that it would take for it to add any useful speed is much longer than it takes for the robot to just turn without it.