Mecanum vs. Tank Drive?

[Kevin Sevcik]

I'm curious if butterflies and octocanums collect alliance selection dings like straight mecanum. Or is it not relevant because teams willing/capable of these drives are usually pickers?

[chandrew]

Do you have experience building a mecanum drive? If not, I would definitely build the KOP chassis.
The clear field is great for a mecanum, however you want it done quickly so your drivers can practice driving with defense.

[Matt_Boehm_329]

I think it is easier to do well with Tank, but there is more potential in Mecanum. I also feel that most of what Mecanum can do, Swerve can do better (except module complexity).

[wireties]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I'm curious if butterflies and octocanums collect alliance selection dings like straight mecanum. Or is it not relevant because teams willing/capable of these drives are usually pickers?

I think the purpose of the butterfly and octocanum is to be the best of both worlds. But what about 2+2? Any opinions about not picking teams with 2+2 drive?

[Rangel]

We did mecanum wheels twice in our team's existence and both times regretted it. I agree with others that if you need precise alignment in the lateral direction(or any direction really) something is wrong with the mechanism design and not the drivetrain. Even if you do use mechanum to fix that problem, the weight of your robot is not likely to be balanced efficiently and you probably won't have a good enough driver to make mecanum worth it in the first place. Literally the only team that comes to mind that used mecanum drive effectively was 4522 in 2014. There may be a few others that actually pulled it off but they are not the norm. In fact most of the time, teams with mecanum just end up driving it like a tank anyways.

[waialua359]

We won a regional in 2015 teamed up with a mecanum bot as the #1 seed.
So while we are not opposed to teaming up with a robot that uses it, we are definitely against using mecanum wheels for our own robot.
Tank drives have way more advantages than the pluses for using mecanum.
Mecanums should only be used for intakes!

[Aren_Hill]

Originally Posted by waialua359

We won a regional in 2015 teamed up with a mecanum bot as the #1 seed.
So while we are not opposed to teaming up with a robot that uses it, we are definitely against using mecanum wheels for our own robot.
Tank drives have way more advantages than the pluses for using mecanum.
Mecanums should only be used for intakes!

You mean vectored intake wheels? why would you use them on the ground?

I'm confused

-Aren

[Abhishek R]

The advantages of mecanum over a tank drive become largely irrelevant with good manipulator design.

Your mechanisms should not require so much precision that it becomes a basis on which to justify mecanum.

[RoboChair]

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

You mean vectored intake wheels? why would you use them on the ground?

I'm confused

-Aren

#VectoredIntakeWheels is now a thing!

[Bryce2471]

I'm not going to try to convince you with logic, because it's easy for logic to make the advantages of mecanum look bigger than they are. So here is my testimony having driven in competition gyro stabilized mecanum, swerve drive, and tank drive:

A good drive train should get your robot where it needs to be, reliably, quickly, and easily. The bottom line is that a tank drive gets the bot to point B more reliably, more quickly, and more easily, so there is no real reason to build a mecanum drive.
Just build a tank drive. It will make your season better.

[ImMoMo]

I advocated against Mecanum drive this year, however the students preferred "maneuverability" to the "reliability" of west coast drive.

Here's my belief: whatever you do, you do it well.

As many people have said before— a good driver can be the decisive factor.. having a mecanum bot that goes 20 ft/s and a driver who knows how to control it... can be amazing for traversing the field and avoiding attacks.

Best of luck this year— let's go team mecanum!

[Caleb Sykes]

Originally Posted by ImMoMo

As many people have said before— a good driver can be the decisive factor.. having a mecanum bot that goes 20 ft/s and a driver who knows how to control it... can be amazing for traversing the field and avoiding attacks.

20fps is pretty fast, unless you have a shifter, consider choosing a slower top speed in order to get higher acceleration.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Caleb Sykes

20fps is pretty fast, unless you have a shifter, consider choosing a slower top speed in order to get higher acceleration.

Also, a 20 fps mecanum would probably have very poor fine control, especially for small strafing position adjustments.

[Tom Ore]

We like mecanum wheels - if it's feels right for the game we'll use them. We have a total of 12 regional wins and 9 of the wins were with mecanum wheels.

[Lord Basket]

Originally Posted by waialua359

We won a regional in 2015 teamed up with a mecanum bot as the #1 seed.

Having a mecanum drive in 2015 was a lot different than having a mecanum drive in most years because there was no defense. 2015 is the exception, not the rule, when it comes to drivetrains.