The advantage of holonomic drivetrains

[Daniel Morse]

213 decided to pursue a holonomic drive with 4 sets of dual Kornylak omni wheels mounted to the KOP gearbox mounted under our machine. We were at BAE and Boston this year, and we were a corner goal dumper. The disadvantage going into the competition we saw immediately, that being we could be pushed. When we finally got out onto the field, and had our driver perfect his method, we were actually able to become nearly as strong as the other robots. At full power we were capable of stopping (or severely impeding) our competitors. Only when we were not moving could we be pushed around. Because of our incredible maneuverability and ability to stop opponents from scoring we were often utilized as ramp defenders at the end of the match, and against high scoring teams sometimes we played nearly exclusive defense. We got to be pretty good at it (especially in Boston). The only problem came in the form of wheel durability, our wheels could easily shatter and did after matches. I suppose this was not necessarily the year for holonomic drives, but I think my team did pretty well (finals in Boston). To see videos of our matches in Boston, go to this site, and download any videos with 213 in them. You will find that a couple of them showcase the omni drive quite nicely. We are also in the eliminations (qf4m1,2 sf2m1,2,3 finals).

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by KVermilion

649 maintained a working holonomic robot though both SVR and Sac-town. Our holonomic drive gave us minimal issues.

Your holonomic system worked very well and your manueverability was outstanding, but often times the area in front of the ramp was crowded and the lack of shooters at UC Davis (aka Sac-"cough"), meant you (and everyone else) got pushed around a lot. Also it meant not getting on the ramp. Anyhow - we so much enjoyed your gracious professionalism when our AndyMark omni's broke apart on us and you gave us not just one but two replacements - Thank you!!

We had to use two omni's on the back of our robot to improve our ability to turn.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Eldarion

Looks like the 4 and 6-wheel drives won out this year, even though holonomic's sooo much cooler.

Don't forget the tank tread robots. I think 1114 and 1503, among others, have proven their effectiveness, especially when it comes to staying in one place for shooting under duress.

[pakrat]

team 830, my team, made a holonomic robot this year, and I think that the advantages have helped more than the disadvantages. Having it eliminates the need for a turret, since we have code that will auto rotate the base to allign the camera with the shooter, and we can also play an Allen Iverson or Rip Hamilton style offense that allows for quick shots, even if we have to move around a little bit after making 2 or 3. Additionally, if we do get in the right range, we can quickly posisiton and make many shots in a row. We were one of four holonomic robots at waterloo, and I think we were among the best of the overall competition. In the eliminations we found ways to score against the #3 alliance (who ended up as regional finalists ) and we actually scored almost all the points for our alliance, inluding 36 in match.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by pakrat

team 830, my team, made a holonomic robot this year, and I think that the advantages have helped more than the disadvantages. Having it eliminates the need for a turret, since we have code that will auto rotate the base to allign the camera with the shooter, and we can also play an Allen Iverson or Rip Hamilton style offense that allows for quick shots, even if we have to move around a little bit after making 2 or 3. Additionally, if we do get in the right range, we can quickly posisiton and make many shots in a row. We were one of four holonomic robots at waterloo, and I think we were among the best of the overall competition. In the eliminations we found ways to score against the #3 alliance (who ended up as regional finalists ) and we actually scored almost all the points for our alliance, inluding 36 in match.

Congratulations to 830 on a great regional and Autodesk Visualization Award at Waterloo!

Another holonomic team (854) was 8th alliance captain, picking 830 and 1189 (J&J Sportsmanship). My own team (931) also had holonomic drive, won the Saturday Judges Award, and was part of the 5th alliance along with 1680 (the third Niagara triplet) and 1901 (GMID and Rookie Inspiration). So holonomic teams were well recognized and in good company; however, I don't think any advanced to the semifinals.

I don't recall which other team had holonomic drive at Waterloo. Any help?

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by Richard

I don't recall which other team had holonomic drive at Waterloo. Any help?

859 was the other Holonomic at Waterloo. It was the one with the dragon painted on the Hopper

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Hunter

859 was the other Holonomic at Waterloo. It was the one with the dragon painted on the Hopper

Thanks! How could I forget the team from West Virginia? They helped 1846 and 772 really scare the 2nd alliance in QF3.

[sgsdragons]

Our team has an omni-drive robot this year. We are usnig our own form of the mechanum wheels. So far(just in our test runs before ship day) it seemed to work really well. The way our wheels are designed, we have a good pushing ability and also it is fairly hard to push us around. We are also able to make it up the ramp(or at least we are pretty sure we can). We leave to go to Las Vegas tomarrow so we will know for sure how well our drive train works.

Josh
Team Driver/Designer

[James Dowd]

Originally Posted by Richard

Congratulations to 830 on a great regional and Autodesk Visualization Award at Waterloo!

Another holonomic team (854) was 8th alliance captain, picking 830 and 1189 (J&J Sportsmanship). My own team (931) also had holonomic drive, won the Saturday Judges Award, and was part of the 5th alliance along with 1680 (the third Niagara triplet) and 1901 (GMID and Rookie Inspiration). So holonomic teams were well recognized and in good company; however, I don't think any advanced to the semifinals.

I don't recall which other team had holonomic drive at Waterloo. Any help?

I think that one of the reasons we had a tough time advancing was because we had two holonomic robots on one alliance. Like someone mentioned before, one of the most effective ways to use a holonomic drive is similar to the pick and roll in basketball. But if there is no robot to use as a pick, then it is hard to compete against strong defenders.

As for defense, I don't think we sacrificed that much. Because of the extra maneuverability, we are able to out position some robots, stopping them from shooting. We have beaten high-profile teams like 1680 (a triplet) and 68 by doing this.

[Mr. Ivey]

Just to throw my 2 cent's in... This year has been different than many other years in that you need the fine movements to shoot the balls, and the brute pushing force. In the end I think that because there are so many machines on the field at once, and you will be pushed at some point. It is better to have a quick machine that has a drive system that will facilitate power over finesse. The team I worked with, 388 had the omni system, it worked well, but when it came to side blows, the aim was gone... I know I'm going to start a riot by saying this, but personally I see no use of holonomic systems in the games thus far. Reason: there is too much pushing for a machine to not move so much so that fine movement or aim can not be lost by collisions from other machines. So until the point where we are in a maze and can not touch the sides, I don't see a good use of the system. But crab drive is another story, there you do have more traction when being pushed. My 2 cents, take it or leave it...

mark

[JamesBrown]

While I origianally wanted omni drive we decided against it for a strong drive train to play defense with.

Team 40 had an extremely effective shooter using mecanum wheels (jester drive) They were very easy to push around but required constant attention because they could quickly line up and shoot if they were left alone. The biggest advantage to their drive was their multiple Auto modes they often evaded defensive bots and scored 7+ balls this combined with very smart driving and strategy seeded them 3rd and got them all the way to the finals in Boston.

213 also used omni drive very effectively to make one of the best side goal dumpers that I saw in boston and manchester they were very difficult to defend and often dumped 20 balls with no problem.

[amos229]

all i can say is that in a game like this if i would make a swerve drive it would be a coaxle with ifi roughtop tread.