Questions about crab/swerve drive.

[BenX02]

Originally Posted by big1boom

The rotating things are Square Lazy Susans from McMaster

We have one on top, and one on bottom of each box, this defines the vertical plane of the wheel with 2 points, making it much stronger. Most swerve modules are supported from top and bottom to increase strength and reliability.

Keep asking questions, I know that I don't mind sharing information that might help someone.

Ah, thanks. I will look into those.

Thanks, you've been a lot of help. I think most of my questions have been answered, but thanks again.

Originally Posted by EricH

You're all forgetting one thing.

We don't know that a swerve drive will be good for next year's game.

So, by "next year", you really mean "next fall, as a prototype", riiight? You see, crab/swerve drives are pretty complex, especially compared to tank drive. So you want to do at least one before it counts, just to help you do the one that counts (if you do it). Move up your schedule and do it in the fall, then evaluate it at the start of build to see if it'll be good for the game.

Now, for some help.

1 CIM per side is still probably too weak. It'll work, yes, but you really want 2, or 1 per wheel module.

There are a number of setups, with the 2 most common being a coaxial crab and a more standard swerve. 118 uses coax, 148 used coax last year, and some other teams do as well, I think. In this setup, all the drive motors power all the wheels. A second rotation shaft is used to rotate the modules. You could set this up to act as either all 4 steer together or as a 2x2.

The other main option is to put the motor in the drive module. That's a little tricky on the wiring side, but it's a bit simpler mechanically.

Well of course that's what I meant.

And yeah, I was aware that one would be to weak. I was thinking of using six CIMs (before someone reminded me of the rule that you can only use four), one for each module, and two to turn them.

I have been thinking of the wiring, how might you go about doing the wiring for that? I'm trying to figure out a way so that they don't get wrapped around.

Thanks for the help.