Omni Drive Idea

[Jared]

Originally Posted by Andrew Lawrence

I see what you mean, though how is this better than 1625's Lobster drive then? And furthermore, why do you need to go sideways at all? Does it serve a specific purpose in a general strategic analysis you planned when designing this drive?

So far, it's just an idea I had when I was reading the discussion about how team 67 would get stuck in pins. I know lots of teams (118, 1114, 1730) had drop down omni wheels that would let them get out quickly, and I thought it would be a neat idea to mount the drop down omni wheels sideways, and make the driven, so you could drive out of a pin easily. Also, if you're trying to line up to do something, and you're a little bit misaligned, you can easily slide sideways instead of backing up and having to realign.

It's better because when it has articulated down, you get omni directional movement, and possibility for a higher gear ratio when traveling in both directions. It also only has one side with articulating wheels, so it's simpler to build.

With only two single speed gearboxes and one pneumatic actuator, you get two speeds, the ability to turn, or have crab drive (translate in any direction). You pick from low speed normal 6WD driving and high speed crab drive.

Originally Posted by asid61

Interesting concept. It's kind of a like a butterfly drive, but the back omni wheels are sideways. I think if you design a drivetrain with this in mind it could work fine geometry-wise. You would need to do some creative work in order to keep the size acceptable.

I have a quick question: if only the back omnis are sideways, how cna you go sideways? You wil just turn in place, as the back of the robot will swing sideways while the front stays still or moves forward. Drifting would be super cool with this, but I'm not sure about strafing.

The front is the side with the sideways facing omni wheels.

The back will be on omni wheels too, so I'm hoping it will slide sideways.

I think if I move the rotating set of omni wheels to the middle, it will work much better. When they rotate down, the robot will tilt, and the back omni wheels (facing forward) will come into contact with the ground.