this was a project that was the brainchild of 1083. in the 2004 offseason. the idea was to make a mechanum wheel robot that could actuate a set of high-traction wheels down to the ground to have the abilty to push another robot. Teams 179 and 180 were involved because it was thought to be a prototype that the three teams could use as a drive base for the 2005 season. it was keped secret because we wanted to keep the new mechanum wheel idea to ourselves.
I know that my team as well as myself is curious about these Mechanum wheels. Is there anywhere that you can purchase them, or do you have to make them by hand? What does it require to make them, and what type of drive train would one need to be able to move laterally?
Thanks.
So THAT’S what that whole SpamThingAcon tomfoolery was at Robot Rodeo!
If this one is just now seeing the light of day, think what these folks are cooking up now! :eek:
can’t wait to see that thing go from mecanum to 4WD w/ them pnuematics…
You’d be waiting a while. This was a good idea. I’d still like to see it work. But between our 3 teams, the interest drifted as we got closer to kickoff. As far as a collaborative effort, it seemed most weren’t interested in either the idea or working in this way - or everyone was just too busy. This was actually Georges idea. I’m not sure he was ready for the world to see it (Tytus you might owe George some royalties now)… What you see there is a stage it was in. It did get further than that. I bet 190 could do something with it.
Personally looking back on it, I think it might be a bit too many resources committed to the drive system. George, Nathan, you guys out there? You wanna finish this thing?
is that two cims and two fp’s? why not just 4 cims? great work you always seem to amaze me.
We were designing this in spring 2004. Before we knew about the 4 cims in the kit. What you see there are drill motors and cims.
ahh, why not use this year, woulda worked great.
one question: why so many small rollers, instead of a few big rollers. it seems like it would be easier to make if you were using half the number of rollers.
My guess would be so that it would roll better
the use of 12 pairs of rolers on each wheel was andrew roudolph’s idea. i think the ideal number of rolers is 6. its much smoother and its the smalest about you can make while covering the whole wheel Pluss finding Hex stock for the hubs is realy easy
Another deterrent to finishing off the design was the hurricanes we had last summer. They really threw us off track.
just a minor problem with the hurricane…it was such a great idea…and fun planning it all out…eventually maybe it’ll get done… i never was able to get to meetings so i had to bug the info out of tytus always…lol…thanks tytus
well thanks again 1083 and 179 for 2004 the summer fun 
From what I recall, this was the state of spamthingicon near the end of summer 2004. From there, two hurricanes and the Robot Rodeo made things difficult for us all.
Tytus: Pay no attention to Dan.* I have great respect for the people who can take my crazy pencil sketches and give them dimension. You have leet skillz, bro.
I’d be interested in pursuing this further. We recently had a meeting to discuss our summer projects, and drivetrain development is on the list.
*I know you can do this. I’ve seen you drive your robot. =-p
That is just sick. Anyone interested in making the name spamthingaconnicane? ha ha ha.
Note: my spell check just exploded.
Haha If I Recall correctly George wanted treads… crazy spammer… I remember that mechanism was pretty friggen sweet tho.
hmmmm…last time I saw a pic of SpamThingAcon it had treads and mecanum’s…right?
Anyway, we know how to write the control for this baby, but last I heard, 1083’s prototyping funds had dried up ?
Eric
Those wheels look pretty sweet. They look like an angry swamp monster’s claws, but not as angry as Dave yelling at me to get some sleep :yikes: .