Omni drive train

[CENTURION]

Originally Posted by Jack S.

While the system that we used this season is heavily based off of 148's Nonadrive, it's actually a simplified, lighter weight, and easier to machine variant that we call the GrassHopper drive. Only the front two traction wheels actuate down in traction mode, thus tilting the robot back at a slight angle and pushing the back two traction wheels into the ground as well. The chassis was assembled from mostly WCP VersaChassis components, limiting the machining complexity required.

After championships we made a few modifications to the original drive and saw even more maneuverability in omni mode, as well as increased pushing ability in traction mode.

Personally, I prefer this drive to Octocanum. I think that it allows more maneuverability in non-traction mode without the added weight of four shifting modules. With our off-season iteration working quite well and brains churning on possible future improvements, I would not be surprised if this drive made a return in upcoming seasons (game permitting of course).

You can find some info on our original iteration here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2968?
If you have any questions on our drive, feel free to ask.

Huh, very interesting, thanks for the correction!

This is a really great drive idea, much simpler than the others. I'm not super familiar with the Versaframe setup though, so I'm having trouble understanding the shifting front wheel.

Is it physically connected to that tensioning cam, welded or something? If not, how is it constrained, why doesn't it just slide around all over the place?