Large, High Torque Swerve Drives

[J_B_Wood]

Hello all,

I wanted to try my hand at designing a swerve drive as a summer CAD/research project, but wanted to do something a little different. Does anyone have any experience with large, high torque swerve drive trains or know of any practical applications of ones that I could look to? Something the scale of, say, a golf cart?

What might be the some of the challenges with scaling up an FRC-style, CIM-powered swerve drive to something much larger and with more powerful motors?

Thanks.

[EmileH]

The only large, real world application I've seen for swerve is this car.

[ctt956]

There was a cart at CMP that appeared to have a swerve-like holonomic drivetrain. It was parked near the Einstein fields during awards and finals. Not sure where to find more info on that though.

[thinker&planner]

One of my life goals is to build a swerve car and beat my friends in an autocross with it. I know that if I can plot a series of points, I can get the car to drive a course autonomously, much faster than any driver.

Some people might say "Why?" but there's no talking me down.

[Dunngeon]

This unit has something similar to a swerve, although it's hydraulically driven because the rest of the mower utilizes hydraulic systems.

https://www.toro.com/en/golf/fairway...r-3100-d-03170

[Chris Mounts]

Search for "industrial automatic guided vehicles". These are becoming rather common in manufacturing plants. There are many different types and several use swerve. Some are very high torque as well.

[ahartnet]

Originally Posted by EmileH

The only large, real world application I've seen for swerve is this car.

Don't forget about it's predecessor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Ki8-NLr6E

[AaronBeaty]

Originally Posted by ctt956

There was a cart at CMP that appeared to have a swerve-like holonomic drivetrain. It was parked near the Einstein fields during awards and finals. Not sure where to find more info on that though.

I believe the cart you are referring to is the MRV (Modular Robotic Vehicle), designed by engineers at NASA-JSC. There was a static display of MRV, and it was used to drop off Charles Bolden at the stage post-Einstein.

Here's a video of MRV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-VUHdmjytM

[ctt956]

Originally Posted by AaronBeaty

I believe the cart you are referring to is the MRV (Modular Robotic Vehicle), designed by engineers at NASA-JSC. There was a static display of MRV, and it was used to drop off Charles Bolden at the stage post-Einstein.

Here's a video of MRV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-VUHdmjytM

Yes, that's it! Thanks for posting this! Definitely an amazing machine.

P.S. Do you know where I can buy one of those?

[J_B_Wood]

Thanks for the replies everyone. That NASA MRV is seriously amazing.

[sanddrag]

The NASA/JPL ATHLETE rover comes to mind.

[scott.smith]

Wow, that car would make Bomb Squad proud. I'm surprised this not much more common than it is.