Penalizing mecanum wheeled robots durring alliance selection.

[Max Boord]

Originally Posted by ChuckDickerson

In my fantasy world I would dearly love to see Teh Chezy Pofs do mecanum

Who knows, Skystalker V2 may come equipped with 8 wheel drop center mecanum.

Originally Posted by ChuckDickerson

mecanums are never on Einstein.

They where this year.

[Justin Montois]

All other things being equal, we would most likely pick a non mecanum drive over a mecanum drive.

However, I think it's important to point out that rarely are all other things equal. Like anything else, design to play the game well and be consistently contribute to the alliance in a positive manner.

[pabeekm]

This year, the robot's drivetrain didn't matter to us nearly so much as how the robot was being driven. This was probably our biggest selection factor; I asked scouters specifically to note great or poor maneuvering (especially around defense). We even used our first pick as 2nd seed at North Carolina on a 44th seeded box bot, just because they drove very well. Likewise, plenty of drivers at champs proved that mecanum was no hinderance if utilized well.

Discriminating against robots for particular attributes should not be done if they can hold their own on the field, period. Unfortunately, teams with such attributes do have to prove themselves to overcome doubters, and even then, the tiniest of concerns might be enough for alliance captains to discredit them.... it's really unfortunate, but it happens, whether you're a mecanum bot, rookie team, or had no intake this year (cries in corner).

[Peyton Yeung]

When teams were scouting our robot it seemed like they were penalizing us for having mecanums even when we told them we were using 4 cims and 4 mini cims.

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by Peyton Yeung

When teams were scouting our robot it seemed like they were penalizing us for having mecanums even when we told them we were using 4 cims and 4 mini cims.

You have peaked my interest, was there any noticeable difference in performance in comparison to the traditional 4 motor? Specifically in terms of pushing power or resistance?

[Peyton Yeung]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

You have peaked my interest, was there any noticeable difference in performance in comparison to the traditional 4 motor? Specifically in terms of pushing power or resistance?

Well it definitely made for a heavy robot(~22 pounds in motors and motor controllers). It had quite a bit of torque but it was still hard keeping 6 wheel drives off us.

[indubitably]

8 motor mecanum isn't bad

[marshall]

Originally Posted by pabeekm

it's really unfortunate, but it happens, whether you're a mecanum bot, rookie team, or had no intake this year (cries in corner).

Wait, being fed by human player doesn't count as an intake?

[BrendanB]

Yes, if you have mecanum wheels it will lower you on my picklist. Especially for our third pick robot we try to avoid teams with mecanums because its very hard to play effective defense with mecanums. It is possible I have seen it done but most of the times these teams have a solid offensive strategy too meaning we wouldn't want them to play defense to begin with as we need them to score.

We have picked/accepted invitations from teams with mecanums more notably this year we allied twice with 58 and once with 126 both were very effective robots on the field with mecanums. If there were identical robots to them just with tank drives I would have rather gone with the tank drive.

You might call it "penalizing" but I see it as a weakness if the other alliance can push you around as much as they please.

[Chadfrom308]

Our mecanums this year were the best i've ever seen. We had 4 CIMs and 4 mini-CIMs.

We ended up pushing practically everyone. Yes, there are a few battles that we lost, but we just spun around them and continued. I was surprised by the amount of power that we could put down.

We pushed a whole bunch of 6 CIM 6/8 wheel drivetrains.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Chadfrom308

Our mecanums this year were the best i've ever seen. We had 4 CIMs and 4 mini-CIMs.

We ended up pushing practically everyone. Yes, there are a few battles that we lost, but we just spun around them and continued. I was surprised by the amount of power that we could put down.

We pushed a whole bunch of 6 CIM 6/8 wheel drivetrains.

Any videos of this?

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

Any videos of this?

Not quite the same thing, but reminds me of this thread.

[cadandcookies]

2220 has been picked by a certain MN team that has used mecanum for the last few years-- 2052 (who has also won three regionals in a row now).

However, frankly, they're the only team I've ever seen that was successful with mecanum-- and that's because a whole lot of driver practice (they're also the only mecanum bot I've seen that actually "runs circles" around others in terms of evasiveness), and just generally the great quality that they build into their robots.

It's all performance/quality based. I will admit that I tend to scrutinize mecanum more than tank, just because I've seen more subpar, problematic, or nonfunctional mecanum bots than "conventional" NWD bots.

[pntbll1313]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

2220 has been picked by a certain MN team that has used mecanum for the last few years-- 2052 (who has also won three regionals in a row now).

However, frankly, they're the only team I've ever seen that was successful with mecanum-- and that's because a whole lot of driver practice (they're also the only mecanum bot I've seen that actually "runs circles" around others in terms of evasiveness), and just generally the great quality that they build into their robots.

Thanks for the complements! (We've actually won 4 regionals in a row, and 2 state championships, but who's counting )

[T^2]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

Any videos of this?

I checked out a few of their videos, and in qual 89 of MSC there are a few moments when they cause noticeable forced lateral motion of an opposing robot.