On mecanum wheels

[Patrick Chiang]

Would purchased mecanum wheels work as well if placed in a rectangle instead of a square like they're supposed to?

[Stephen of REX]

I've never heard of them having to be in a square. A rectangle should be fine!

[alicen]

omnis are the ones generally put in a square pattern

mechanums work perfectly fine in a rectangle

[Patrick Chiang]

I don't know. I'm assuming that the rollers have to point to the center of the robot, and if they're oriented at a 45 degree angle, so they would have to be in a square. But we've never tried, so we don't know for sure. None of the reports we've read seemed to indicate that this is the case, but many of our team members were pretty certain.

Thanks for the replies. Good to know.

[Hastypickle]

Mecanum wheels work when in a rectangular configuration, although I can see how some people may think they must be in a square if they are told that the wheels must be in an x configuration when viewed from the top.

[Ed Sparks]

Originally Posted by Patrick Chiang

Would purchased mecanum wheels work as well if placed in a rectangle instead of a square like they're supposed to?

We're living proof. We're running in a recangular configuration with absolutely no issue.

[Alan Anderson]

Holonomic drivebases really work best if the rollers touching the ground are all directed right at the same point (usually the center of the robot). With 45-degree mecanum rollers, that does mean a square is optimum. But a rectangle still works fine, with only a tiny bit of power lost due to scrubbing friction.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by alicen

omnis are the ones generally put in a square pattern

Omnis don't even "need" a square either, though they can be really annoying in a rectangle.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Holonomic drivebases really work best if the rollers touching the ground are all directed right at the same point (usually the center of the robot).

Just to be clear, for those unfamiliar:

"Holonomic drivebases really work best if the perpendicular bisectors of the axles of the rollers touching the ground are all directed right at the same point"

[TheDominis]

Our robot is using mecanums in a rectangular configuration. It works very well.