mecanum vs. omni

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Adam is quite right... don't assume that mecanum or omni or any other holonomic drive system is going to give you an edge at a competition unless it suits the game, your strategies and the rest of your robot. You will spend more time designing and debugging a more sophisticated drive system than you will a simpler tank-style drive system, and that will take away from something else you could be doing to make your team/machine better.

On the OTHER hand.... YES!! Build a Mecanum because it is cool! Why the heck do we get into this whole robot-building stuff in the first place? Trophies and banners are nice enough, I suppose, but people have seen them before. How many people have seen a mecanum wheel?? Robots that can go sideways really capture people's attention, especially when you bring it back from the competition and are driving it around in the community.

If you base the success of your season on winning a regional, then chances are you are going to be disappointed. If you base the success of your season on building a good team and a cool robot then chances are good that you are going to be successful... and you might even find that you win a fair bit, too!

Jason

I'm not basing success on winning a regional. Success is learning by buildint the best system you can. In the engineering industries, the best system is the one chosen.

If a 6 wheel skid-steer can outperform a holonomic in a certain game. Then the skid-steer is the better system, although it is more likely less complex.


Now, for offseason things. Go ahead and build the "cool' stuff.