Optical mouse for mecanum Odometry?

[Ether]

Originally Posted by AriMindell

Could we use a Computer mouse with an optical sensor to calculate the position of our [mecanum] robot?!

Using only a single optical mouse, with no additional sensors, consider the following scenario:

1) drive forward 5 feet

2) rotate in-place around the mouse 180 degrees

3) drive forward another 5 feet

... what is the position of the robot according to the mouse?



[EDIT this info was not in your original post:

That said, we are planning to use a gyro for heading. The mouse would only be for translation.

[MrRoboSteve]

You should be more specific about your positioning requirements. It's one thing to calculate position during an autonomous routine (a la Ether's description above), and another thing to know your position 45 seconds into the match.

If you're talking an autonomous scenario, you can use motion profiling to control acceleration and manage wheel slip.