pic: Butterfly Drive

[RobotsThatWork]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I'm interested in the side-to-side module design. How do you insure it puts enough force down onto the floor so that the wheels don't slide?

You mean the strafing module, right?

We took inspiration from 148's strafing module (from their 2014 robot, Vader). The module itself spins on the axle that's powered by the CIM. So when the CIM is powered, the module spins down until a wheel contacts the wheel. The CIM will exert enough force to push down the module enough to have the ground exert a normal force on the wheel (which is what traction is dependent on) before the torque of the CIM spins the omniwheel.

At least that's how I understood it while designing this. We haven't actually done more serious math outside of a simple free body diagram. If someone from 148 or anyone with experience with this type of strafing module could explain more/clarify/prove me wrong, that would be awesome.