Can Mecanum wheels pass the scoring zone?

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by alopex_rex

A team we share space with tried driving over HDPE with a mecanum drive. It could drive straight forward with no trouble, and strafing over it wasn't bad either. The main issue had nothing to do with friction: if the drive train went over diagonally, the bump lifted two of the wheels off of the ground, and they could only get off again by flailing around with the wheels.

This is easily accounted for by modifying the strategy and match flow. I don't envision too many times where a Mecanum's diagonal strafe is terribly useful around the bumps in this game. Personally, I would stick with 90 degree angles as much as possible and completely forget field-centric drive.

The cool thing about Mecanums this year - in order to properly orient yourself to the totes that start on the field, just smash into them from an angle where you're already mostly aligned to them. They'll square you up pretty nicely . Then strafing to pickup totes works like a charm.