Converting to Mechanum....

[,4lex S.]

Ether,

I was aware of your whitepaper, and I intend to make my way through at some point. The real challenge I see here relates to my experience with my own team, without a skilled programming mentor. You must have a passionate and supported programming squad to attempt anything, let alone something that is outside of the basic drive code, and I do not know the situation of the team at hand. In 2008 I (as a mechanical student) asked my team to work with a holonomic platform, and it did not progress as harmoniously as we would have liked due to the limitations on our programming knowledge. The key is that this kind of work is more multidisciplinary than some other ways of attacking the same problem, so the potential programming hiccups have to be weighted against mechanical advantages (if issues are likely).

The only reason I say there are likely to be programming issues, is because I have been there. Doing this in the off season is probably a really good choice, because the wrinkles will be out by the time the season rolls around.