pic: MOEnarch Swerve Drive

[asid61]

Originally Posted by Ether

Here's why:

+1. That kind of reduction will result in an extremely low speed, around 5 fps according to JVN design calc. Not really worth a 4 cim 4 minicim drive IMO, as even in high gear mecanum you're only running 12fps...

[Ether]

Free speed of CIM+MiniCIM motor combination geared 1:1

= (343 + 198) / (343/5310 + 198/6200)

~ 5604 rpm


vehicle speed (with traction wheels) @ motor combo free speed =

(pi*4*5604) / (720*12.75*40/18)

~ 3.45 feet/sec

[nathannfm]

Getting there!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...04577359603811

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by nathannfm

Getting there!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...04577359603811

The diagonal cut roughtop is killing me! Straight cut (for maximum cleat effect) is the only way to go in my mind.

Congrats on getting to the movement milestone though!

[nathannfm]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

The diagonal cut roughtop is killing me! Straight cut (for maximum cleat effect) is the only way to go in my mind.!

You noticed that ehh?
We actually tested this last year with a force gauge, it takes ~15% more force to pull/push the robot side to side or front to back (with locked wheels) because when you put it on a diagonal more nubs are touching the carpet per contact patch area.

[Gdeaver]

Looks like a happy happy joy joy moment. Some thing does not sound right when the module was rotating and driven. Those are wide wheels and may cause problems with amp draw on both drive motors and steering. Pay close attention to the tuning of the steering pid. You can have to much traction. For a fall back you might want to consider 1-1/2 or 1-1/4" Colsons. Next, get 4 of them on a frame and get programming. Then you will be half way there. Driver training is the last half. If you get it going before kick off, do you want to meet and do some swerve on swerve driving?

Note for the drive encoder, Do you really need quadrature? Wouldn't a tachometer solution be good enough? I do not now what the under side of the coaxial pulley looks like but, could you put some reflective tape strips on it and use a optical reflective sensor? We used a magnet solution last year and will use optical this year.

[nathannfm]

Originally Posted by Gdeaver

Looks like a happy happy joy joy moment. Some thing does not sound right when the module was rotating and driven. Those are wide wheels and may cause problems with amp draw on both drive motors and steering. Pay close attention to the tuning of the steering pid. You can have to much traction. For a fall back you might want to consider 1-1/2 or 1-1/4" Colsons. Next, get 4 of them on a frame and get programming. Then you will be half way there. Driver training is the last half. If you get it going before kick off, do you want to meet and do some swerve on swerve driving?

Note for the drive encoder, Do you really need quadrature? Wouldn't a tachometer solution be good enough? I do not now what the under side of the coaxial pulley looks like but, could you put some reflective tape strips on it and use a optical reflective sensor? We used a magnet solution last year and will use optical this year.

It was (MOE cheer right after the video cut out ) If you were referring to the pulsating of the sound I think that was because most of the noise was coming from the bevel gears and their location was changing relative to the mic, but I will look into it. Do you grease yours? We also have not played with tension of the rotation motor belt, we will look into that next meeting (we did notice it affected the speed of rotation between modules) We will definitely be keeping an eye on the amps and have Jags on every motor to monitor that, The RoboRIO should also make that easy when it arrives. We will hopefully get driving by Monday. Our programmers already have a basic crab drive program and are working on fancier moves now. I think we would love to have some swerve on swerve driving! You and your team have already been a great help this summer, I will ask the drive team about this at the next meeting and get back to you.

As for the encoders we debated this, but we haven't had very reliable results from magnetic sensors in the past, and there is not much room to mount an optical sensor under the pulley. We also had all the encoders we plan to use in stock so we just went with them.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by nathannfm

it takes ~15% more force to pull/push the robot side to side or front to back

Would you please post your data and test procedure?

[nathannfm]

Originally Posted by Ether

Would you please post your data and test procedure?

Sure, all from memory but it should be good enough.

First I had to build The Bathroom Scale of Science, the "force gauge" we used to test this because the real one we had in the lab maxed out at 50lb. The bars that stick out from the sides are the handles and the X that crosses the face of the scale has 4 ropes that converge at a shackle that was placed around a 1x1 frame member on the robot in the bumper zone. The wheels were then locked by jamming a scrap between the spokes. The robot was pulled with the ropes remaining as horizontal, and the scale remaining as vertical as possible to the ground. A reading of ~120lb was observed on the scale. The wheels were then switched to those with diagonal tread, the same procedure was followed and a reading of ~140lb was observed. A ~15% increase.

We also used a similar procedure to demonstrate how ineffective trying to drive out of a T-bone is. This time the wheels were unlocked and I pulled sideways acting as an opposing robot pushing from the oppisite side as our driver floored it (and the robot started to drive in a circle around me with a radius of the rope (~5ft)) you could see the scale instantly drop from a reading of ~140lb to something like 60lb (I don't remember the exact number but it was something drastic)

We again used the test to determine that 2" wide 4" dia wheels were ~15% better than 1 inch wide wheels. Take 4 1" wide wheels, place them on the four corners of the robot, lock them, drag. Place 4 more 1" wide wheels on the same axles, lock them, drag.

*All tests performed on actual FRC carpet

[Ether]

Originally Posted by nathannfm

The robot was pulled with the ropes remaining as horizontal, and the scale remaining as vertical as possible to the ground. A reading of ~120lb was observed on the scale.

Was this the breakaway force, or the min force to continue motion?

Was the height of the horizontal rope above, below, or at the height of the wheel axes?

[nathannfm]

Originally Posted by Ether

Was this the breakaway force, or the min force to continue motion?

The force to continue motion, but surprisingly the difference was only a few pounds. Nothing like the dramatic example of the spinning wheels.

Originally Posted by Ether

Was the height of the horizontal rope above, below, or at the height of the wheel axes?

It was about 2 inches above, in the middle of our bumper (one bumper removed for test to attach shackle to frame)

[TheLoveGouru]

Hey Everyone!

This is just a quick update on the progress of the MOEnarch drive system.
We have mounted the four modules onto the square chassis and it's working smoothly.

This is the Facebook link to the video:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...type=2&theater

As you will notice, the robot doesn't have any encoders on the modules just yet. We are looking to set those up by the end of next Monday and have a robot-centric swerve drive ready to go before Winter Break.

[Gdeaver]

Sounds like a swerve, kind of moves like a swerve, it must be a swerve. Welcome to the 3 degrees of freedom club.