pic: Doubble-wishbone Crab fender

[Dan Richardson]

Originally posted by JVN
Tytus,
What benefit do you get from putting your swerve module on some suspension? It seems like a significant amount of added complexity/weight/space for very little gain.

These kind of considerations are things you should think about while designing.

What will I get out of this?
What is it going to cost me?
Is it worth it?

Based on the historical FIRST games, I don't see any pressing need for a suspension system on a robot. Maybe if we went to a really rough/bumpy field.... but otherwise... you'd be better off spending the weight on the "ball mechanism" on top of the robot.

It still looks cool.
A "coax swerve" is something I've been playing with for a while now. It gives you the option to use a CVT/Shifting Swerve drive.
If you are interested, check out team 998's bot from 2003. They had a working version of this.

Keep designing, keep thinking of new ideas, and good luck.

John

The suspension would have been of great use on this years game.. it would have kept all 4 wheels in contact with the surfaces at all times.. while battling on the edge of the ramp ( at carpet and the top ) many times whoever got most traction could win.. no matter how strong the drive train. This sort of suspension would be of great gain in that situation