Omni drive train

[llamadon]

Hello! Just last week we hosted our 5th annual off-season event, with about 36 teams. Our drive system was very modular, and we had omnis in the front and blue nitrile treaded plaction wheels in the back. One of our traction wheels cracked, and we only had extra omni wheels. We swapped out the wheels so that we would be driving all omni and hoped for the best.

Our first match with the new drive was one of the most fun match me (coach) and our drivers have had all season. The robot was gliding across the field like a piece of butter on a hot skillet. Handling and turning improved greatly. Overall it is a whole new world when you start driving it. It makes your robot movements more fluid, and encourages you to keep your robot moving. You are immune from t-bones putting robot at the complete mercy of your opponents, though you do have to maneuver away as you don't have any staying power.

In regards to pushing power and defense: With the wheels you won't be able to push worth beans, and you won't be stopping anyone. However you can still very much get in the way of robots scoring, and ram (at a non-damaging speed) to disrupt game piece manipulation. You can still play very solid defense with a good driver, just be more strategic in doing so.

Our robot performed its best all season with this drive system. I recommend that teams give it a try.

Specs:
Vexpro 6" omni wheels in a square config.
Each wheel powered by its own CIM and gearbox (4 CIMs total)
Gearboxes geared for 11 fps
Mounted on Wild Swerve modules Zip tied into a fixed position. (worlds most expensive tank drive )

See attached thumbnail for picture of module (not completely assembled)