The advantage of holonomic drivetrains

[KVermilion]

Originally Posted by Ianworld

As for the holonomic drives I've seen, they have all broken down under the stress of the competition. They're tough to make really sturdy and powerful and just don't seem up to snuff this year. Its too bad since they're really starting to become common and a bad year like this will slow their adoption I think.

649 maintained a working holonomic robot though both SVR and Sac-town. Our holonomic drive gave us minimal issues.

[Daniel Morse]

213 decided to pursue a holonomic drive with 4 sets of dual Kornylak omni wheels mounted to the KOP gearbox mounted under our machine. We were at BAE and Boston this year, and we were a corner goal dumper. The disadvantage going into the competition we saw immediately, that being we could be pushed. When we finally got out onto the field, and had our driver perfect his method, we were actually able to become nearly as strong as the other robots. At full power we were capable of stopping (or severely impeding) our competitors. Only when we were not moving could we be pushed around. Because of our incredible maneuverability and ability to stop opponents from scoring we were often utilized as ramp defenders at the end of the match, and against high scoring teams sometimes we played nearly exclusive defense. We got to be pretty good at it (especially in Boston). The only problem came in the form of wheel durability, our wheels could easily shatter and did after matches. I suppose this was not necessarily the year for holonomic drives, but I think my team did pretty well (finals in Boston). To see videos of our matches in Boston, go to this site, and download any videos with 213 in them. You will find that a couple of them showcase the omni drive quite nicely. We are also in the eliminations (qf4m1,2 sf2m1,2,3 finals).

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by KVermilion

649 maintained a working holonomic robot though both SVR and Sac-town. Our holonomic drive gave us minimal issues.

Your holonomic system worked very well and your manueverability was outstanding, but often times the area in front of the ramp was crowded and the lack of shooters at UC Davis (aka Sac-"cough"), meant you (and everyone else) got pushed around a lot. Also it meant not getting on the ramp. Anyhow - we so much enjoyed your gracious professionalism when our AndyMark omni's broke apart on us and you gave us not just one but two replacements - Thank you!!

We had to use two omni's on the back of our robot to improve our ability to turn.