Swerve vs. Mecanum Programming

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by apalrd

I would generally not use his method of "check greater/equal/lesser and set output based on case" and instead use proportional control,...

If the system you're controlling does not have appreciable inerta and/or a slow response to changes in the control signal, a simple "full on"/"full stop" scheme can work fine. For example, a window motor usually stops as soon as you remove power, without significant overshoot. That's typical of a worm gear system.

On the other hand, if you're moving a massive mechanism around, you definitely want to slow it down on its way to the target position. Stopping it abruptly can lead to extreme stress on the gears (as demonstrated well by the teeth being stripped off a large sector of a heavy gear on the TechnoKats 2004 robot's arm by the team's programming mentor a few minutes before the pre-ship open house was to begin).