Has anyone made a swerve drive that's run on one motor?

[JesseK]

Robonauts have a great video showing off some of the points discussed here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAJBC-DDL9w (2008)

They spoke about the drive train in 2009. The fundamental problem with steering all four wheels together is simply aligning the wheels so they all point the same direction to begin with. This is why their pods are designed the way they are, and why the 221 product is based upon their design.

[Alex Chamberlin]

I've heard of a theoretical 3 sim swerve.

[Chak]

Originally Posted by Alex Chamberlin

I've heard of a theoretical 3 sim swerve.

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

The archetypal example of crab drive (that is, a number of swerve modules all steered together) is Tumbleweed, 148's FIRST Overdrive robot, which had three wheels all driven off of one massive drive train. Because Tumbleweed had no manipulators, the orientation of the robot did not matter so crab was perfect. If you have a manipulator on a crab robot, you will almost certainly need to have that manipulator be able to rotate relative to the chassis to achieve what the chassis does not.

It's not just theoretical, it was designed and implemented very successfully, and even posted on this thread earlier. Well, strictly it's not 3 CIM, but it uses only 3 swerve modules, which I assume is what you meant.

[marshall]

This is how I imagine everyone in this thread responding to OP.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Chak

.... Well, strictly it's not 3 CIM, ...

...because, strictly, three is not equal to four. And the little monster had two FPs as well, bringing its total propulsion power nearer to that of six CIMs. Underweight and overpowered -- the thing could fly.