AndyMark Mecanum Wheel tests

I'm curious as to the possibility of using your Mecanums in a situation where accurate odometery is required. For example, on a 50 pound robot, driving forward 10 feet at 1m/s, how much "slip" is encountered on a standard linoleum floor? The application wouldn't be FIRST, but a robot designed for SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping). Mecanums may not even be feasible for the part, but having some number of slip during normal operation would help.

[pfreivald]

While generally happy with the 6" AM mecanum wheels this year, we did have some problems with robustness and had to replace two wheels at Championship.

As such, I am particularly interested in any tests that demonstrate how much abuse they can (and cannot) take -- the drop test is a great idea. How about stress from FIRST-speed ramming (both head-on and from the side?)

Small deformations caused the rollers to rub and effected performance (not a ton, but some) on the 6" wheels. I'm not sure if this was/is an issue with the 8" wheels.

[mcf747]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

While generally happy with the 6" AM mecanum wheels this year, we did have some problems with robustness and had to replace two wheels at Championship.

As such, I am particularly interested in any tests that demonstrate how much abuse they can (and cannot) take -- the drop test is a great idea. How about stress from FIRST-speed ramming (both head-on and from the side?)

Small deformations caused the rollers to rub and effected performance (not a ton, but some) on the 6" wheels. I'm not sure if this was/is an issue with the 8" wheels.

We has huge issues with deformation and rubbing of the 8" wheels. We were disappointed that theses weren't a bit tougher, good to hear the new design is, but I guess it is to be expected with the large amount of shock loads this year.

Matthew Forman
Team 1515

[camtunkpa]

To add to all the suggestions, the roughest thing on the field I saw this year was the "1/2" bump" on both sides of the ramps. I saw this bump even bend some aluminum AM omni wheels. So maybe some sideways testing on a 1/2" hard bump or something similar.

[PVCMike]

We has huge issues with deformation and rubbing of the 8" wheels. We were disappointed that theses weren't a bit tougher, good to hear the new design is, but I guess it is to be expected with the large amount of shock loads this year.

Matthew Forman
Team 1515[/quote]

We also had serious issues with deformation of out 8" wheels and ended up going through 2 sets of 4 (which ends up getting pretty pricey.) The problem we were having is that the wheel plates were curling over (we assume from side load) and binding the rollers.

I would like to see some tests involving side load on the wheels, the sort of stress the wheel would see when being pushed from the side.

Mike Jr.
Team 1058 Mentor

[Hadi379]

Our main concern was the robustness of the side plates. We used the 8" wheels and noticed the same thing as the above post. Some of our rollers would get pinched between the two side plates and prevent the rollers from freely spinning.

[Chris Fultz]

Rigolith

(just in case)