Tank Swerve

[allgoodthehood]

Is tank swerve drive a feasible drive train?

[CalTran]

Like tank treads in swerve modules? Seems like the weakness of both with slight benefit over regular swerve.

[asid61]

How would that look? The treads would have to be really short so the the modules could go into a typical 4-module swerve configuration.

[Oslim1999]

Are you asking if a two-tread swerve (where the normal sized-tank treads rotate), or a 4-tread swerve with four really small treads?

[Anthony Galea]

If I'm visualizing this right, I feel like the rotation of the modules if it was 4 module swerve would cause a lot of turning scrub, and even more so if it was 2 module. If you could design it and build it, congratulations, but I don't really see a competitive advantage that could be gained from it.

[Electronica1]

Does this count?

[EmileH]

Originally Posted by Electronica1

Does this count?

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that more of an omni-wheel style than an independently steered tank drive module?

[Justin Ridley]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/12291

The godfathers of swerve, FRC47, did it in 2001. 4 wheel independent tank tread swerve modules. This, back when motor selection was nowhere close to what we have today.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Justin Ridley

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/12291

The godfathers of swerve, FRC47, did it in 2001. 4 wheel independent tank tread swerve modules. This, back when motor selection was nowhere close to what we have today.

Huh. TIL. Any videos of this floating around?

[RyanShoff]

The real question is whether it is called a twerve drive or a swank drive.

[Ricky Bobby]

We are planning on doing a butterfly drivetrain with the low gear wheels on the inside, but instead of wheels we will be using tank treads to be able to push around other bots and be able to cross some of the tougher defenses while still being able to out maneuver many bots on the offensive

[TheHolyHades1]

Do you mean having a turreting center piece, similar to how a modern tank's weapon can aim independent of the wheel orientation (I think)?

[Peyton Yeung]

461 did a tank swerve in 2002. I uploaded a video of one of the matches where the camera features it near the end.

[Ricky Bobby]

Originally Posted by CalTran

Wait, so swerve or butterfly? The two are not the same.

It will be butterfly with tank treads instead of high traction wheels, not swerve drive. We are calling it Butter Tank.

[allgoodthehood]

Originally Posted by RyanShoff

The real question is whether it is called a twerve drive or a swank drive.

This is really the only question the needs to be answered in this thread.