Sharing motor(s) tranmissions in Swerve drive

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Their 2001 robot had this capability, and I believe it is the only FIRST robot to ever do so.

2002 being the one with the mini-treads, and 2001 being the one with the fancy ball-holding arm. To be honest, I thought the 2002 could do this too, but it's been so long, that I don't remember.

[RogerR]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

2002 being the one with the mini-treads, and 2001 being the one with the fancy ball-holding arm. To be honest, I thought the 2002 could do this too, but it's been so long, that I don't remember.

actually, 2001 had the mini-treads to help it ride over the mid-field 2x4. i still can't believe that they got the whole thing to fit under the bar.

[edit] pics can be found here and here [/edit]

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by RogerR

actually, 2001 had the mini-treads to help it ride over the mid-field 2x4. i still can't believe that they got the whole thing to fit under the bar.

That explains it. I was off by a year. Oops. Also, the 2000 robot didn't have the 4 driven and steerable wheels...that makes sense now.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by RogerR

actually, 2001 had the mini-treads to help it ride over the mid-field 2x4. i still can't believe that they got the whole thing to fit under the bar.
[/edit]

From 1998 to 2002, Team 47 had some of the most awe-inspiring robots that I have ever seen. Each year they'd make your jaw drop. It seemed like there was no limit to what they could accomplish. They managed to pack loads of functionality into simple and elegant designs.

[Mike Martus]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

Our team used "Swerve" drive systems for several years. Some independant (all 4 wheels) configurations and a - Four Wheel configuration moved by a single motor. All had their good and bad points. The nature of the game in recent years has made swerve drives to be shelved in place of powererful fast systems that can climb.

Due to resources required both mechanical and physical the need for swerve has been very low as it would impact the game very little. I see an opening for FIRST to have a game that will require the felexability of a swerve drive system.

Swerve is many times confused with a steerable chassis (like a car).