Driving Swerve

[evand4567]

So due to a special set of circumstances, I'm going to be driving swerve in an offseason competition in about a week. Anybody have any tips to help me learn?

[Lij2015]

I've never driven swerve, just 6 wheel but from my grasp of what it'd be like the less spinning you do the less you'll get dissoriented
If its programmed well however I imagine it'll feel like mechanum

[cjl2625]

I think driving swerve is easier than tank drive, personally.
Just feels more natural. That is, if it's field centric.

If it's robot centric, then I guess you could just think of it as a tank drive, with an x axis strafing capability when you want it.

The driver practice on our team is pretty minimal, but sometimes we set up some cones and slalom through them for practice.

[Tyler2517]

What type of swerve? Field centric non field cenctic?
I've only driven a robot centric swerve.

They have a lot more acceleration then any mecanum drive i have ever driven.
Use as many large curves as you can it takes a lot of power and losses a lot of energy doing hard sharp transnational movements. If you can do long straight lines its best. Lots of high speed spinning gets disorientating fast try to keep one side away from you as if you are driving a field centric swerve it will make things a tad bit more simple.

It is really hard to give tips for driving swerves as each one is programmed differently. Oftentimes to exstreams.

[evand4567]

We'll be using robot-centric pivot (each module controlled independently).

[z_beeblebrox]

Regardless of the drivetrain type, just get as many hours practice as you can before the event.

[TheFrozenSlink]

Is the offseason event you are referring to R2OC?

[g_sawchuk]

If you are completely lost and don't understand swerve at all, there's a neat SIM made by Team 2067. I am pretty sure that the link is applepi.tk/swerve
Let me know if that works or helps at all, I recommend that you try it out.

[ElvisMom]

There will be a couple of guys with lots of swerve experience at R2OC - pretty sure you can chat with Jake, Carrington or Arthur from Winnovation or Ryan from Pwnage on Saturday if you need some hints.

Bryan from Winnovation just drives our current robot like it's a swerve. Not sure that's a good idea. And after seeing what he did to our wheel modules when driving on asphalt at a demo I'm not sure you should be taking driving advice from him! (Love you Bryan)

[who716]

Originally Posted by cjl2625

I think driving swerve is easier than tank drive, personally.
Just feels more natural. That is, if it's field centric.

If it's robot centric, then I guess you could just think of it as a tank drive, with an x axis strafing capability when you want it.

The driver practice on our team is pretty minimal, but sometimes we set up some cones and slalom through them for practice.

I really admired your swerve drive this year, as a driver every time I go up against you I think defense might be difficult on this one.

For me nothing will ever be better then a traditional tank drive. love the power, and with the correct wheel combination the maneuverability too. if your having a lot of trouble with handling the swerve you can always forget about the x axis and use it as a tank drive