Team 3489 Category 5 Presents Storm Drive

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Basically, there's design benefits to having your traction wheels on the outside. I can't come up with any obvious ones to having your omnis on the outside.

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

Come by our pits sometime. My kids would like to show you the advantages of a small traction wheelbase octocanum.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. It really depends on your end goal. Putting the traction wheels in the center gives you more turning ability with more control over where the robot ends up (no drift due to omni wheels). You would probably be using the omni's to escape a t-bone or something like that.

On the flip side, putting the traction wheels on the outside means you are primarily using the omni's most of the time. I believe this is what most teams who use butterfly do, because of the reasons Andrew Schreiber said - you have a longer wheelbase for stability when you're pushing or being pushed, and are less likely to be spun around.