Hey All-
I’m on team 5740, and we are having issues with sensors. We are using a Holonomic Drive with Omni wheels and are planning on having the robot drive to the shaft and deposit a gear. To do this, we need to measure distance with encoders, but we are having trouble figuring out where we can place these encoders as well as what kind of encoders we need to use. Any help/suggestions?
Thanks
Jake, 5740
Encoders measure the amount of motion of a component, most commonly a rotating shaft or axle. To use such an encoder to measure distance along the floor, it needs to be mounted to a wheel rolling on the floor. Most commonly, these are mounted to the gearbox somewhere, or the motors. What gearboxes are you using? Using encoders which are known to support your gearbox will save many hours (and perhaps a whole season) of trouble.
The two threads linked below are a good start. They were found just by searching “drivetrain encoders.”
https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150254&highlight=drivetrain+encoders
https://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135477&highlight=drivetrain+encoders
So many COTS FIRST gearboxes from andymark and VEX have built in spots for encoder attachment and have mounting kits for them as well.
Alternatively, you can attach one of these http://www.andymark.com/encoder-p/am-3314.htm directly to a CIM shaft if you’re not using one of those COTS gearboxes.
Those are your two best COTS, slap on to gearboxes/CIM option.
If you feel that your specific setup needs a more custom solution, provide more info and we can have a more in depth discussion about how encoders work and how to fit them into your system.
What is your wheel setup? Adding encoders to a holonomic drive is not always straightforward, as certain types have wheels that are constantly slipping. It is possible you need to add a follower wheel on your drive to mount the encoder on.