We are a rookie team searching for 6 in by 1 in omnis to use on our AM14U4 base. Where can we find cheap but reliable 6 x 1 omnis? Also, is this even a good idea?
What’s the drive for 1” wide? Most omnis are a hair or more over that iirc.
6"x2" omniwheels from AndyMark: https://www.andymark.com/products/6-in-duraomni-wheel
6"x1.5" omniwheels from VEXpro: https://www.vexrobotics.com/omni-wheels.html
I’d like to address the “is this a good idea” part of the question.
What specifically are you trying to accomplish by using omnis?
Also, be aware that if you’re using omnis, you don’t want to drop the center wheel of a 6WD for a variety of reasons.
what makes all omnis a bad idea
Wait.
You want to use 6WD with all of them being omnis?
While it’s been done before, you need a LOT of drive practice to pull it off, and you’re highly susceptible to defense simply knocking you sideways.
But, like, asteroids drive.
How else are you supposed to film a shot-for-shot parody of Tokyo Drift as the reveal video?
More seriously, there are some cases where all omnis are advantageous, like avoiding friction pins on open fields. 33 and a few others notably ran all omnis or some form of H drive in 2014. Of course, you now have to determine how likely friction pins are going to be in this game with all the stuff everywhere. There are also some defense positions that would suffer terribly with all omnis.
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Correct me if im wrong, but this game does not seem very defence oriented
I would say quite the opposite. Scoring is going to be hard. I see a lot of teams playing defense after failing to meaningfully score.
Uh… You’re… badly… wrong.
Open field, tiny protected zones, robots everywhere… Defense will be pretty normal.
You haft to get the gearing right or you will not have a good time
would four omnis and two traction work?
Traction in the middle, omnis on the corners, do NOT drop the center wheel.
Personally, as a piece of advice, I would go with the stock drivetrain, without omnis, but make sure the center wheel is dropped (for maneuverability).
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I’m very curious as to how omnis will handle repeatedly being slammed into boundaries at high speeds. I would design around some type of center drop if only for that reason – if you find that omnis are breaking then you can switch to some more durable wheels.
I’m running six wheel tank drive on my chairbot with all omni wheels. It’s really fun but I doubt it’d work well in competition. I’d reccomend just using the normal traction wheels as they are easier to drive and better for a game featuring defense.
AndyMark sells an upgrade kit for corner omnis, this is the configuration we recommend if using omnis. It comes with all the additional hardware needed to convert the chassis, along with a layout print on that page to show you how it all goes together.
Why wouldn’t I just purchase Omnis and swap them in place for the outside traction wheels? (It saves us some money)
The purpose of dropping a center wheel is to make sure that not all 6 wheels are touching the ground at the same time, this makes turning hard. With omnis in the corner, there are no turning issues when all 6 wheels are contacting the ground. So inherently there’s no reason to run with dropped wheels.
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Sooo, no need to drop a wheel (I got kinda lost)? Also, I have heard of people putting screws into the omni rollers in order to stop them from spinning thus making a dropped wheel not necessary, would that work?
If you’re doing 6WD, you have two options, “flat” and “drop”.
If you have 6 traction wheels, you need the “drop” option, or turning will be difficult.
If you’re running omnis on one or both ends, if you put the drop in, turning will be ridiculously easy, especially for your opponents when they hit you. So you do the “flat” option instead.
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