pic: 2108 Swerve Drive

[Jimmy Cao]

Looks nice!

Just one little question. What reduction (if any) do you have going from the window motor to the wheel? [Looked at the picture again and it looks like its about 1:1] If its too much of a reduction, your wheel's turning will be so unresponsive that it will be difficult to truly utilize your swerve. On the flipside, if your reduction is too little, that poor little motor won't be enough to do the job.

The reason I mention this is because we used a window to steer last year. The wheels were extremely responsive (1:1 ratio off motor), but the motor did feel the beating, getting hot and eventually tripping the internal heat breaker (who knew it had one of these?). Granted, it was 1 window to steer 2 wheels at once, and it took at least 30 minutes of practice before we encountered this problem, but remember that it was also slick wheel on slick surface. I see that you plan on using a high traction wheel (on carpet).

The design looks extremely robust, although its a little difficult to tell how thick all those plates are. Maybe there's a little excess material? Of course, if weight isn't an issue, then who cares?

Overall very nice design. Out of curiosity, you don't plan on climbing the ramp, do you?