Hey guys!! I was wondering if there is any real upside to utilzing swerve, specifically in this years game. Based on what we’ve gotten today, it seems like this game is a heavy attempt to equalize swerve and non-swerve drives by nerfing all the parts of the game swerve is great for (ex. no cross field racing, no real need for robot on robot defense, etc.). My team has been trying to get swerve to work since last year, but we keep running into new issues. We’re considering using Mechanum instead now, but I was wondering if there is any glaring swerve advanatges we are overlooking. Any advice?
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Personally, I think that a tank drive is better than mechanum. Mechanum almost always ends up being just a worse tank anyway, unless you spend waaaaaay longer than ideal in order to make it just right. As for swerve, there are some kits you can buy that make it much simpler these days. Not sure if you have already, but give them a look.
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This game is great for swerve! The ability to adjust your robot side to side while scoring a pick and place object on a tiny target is HUGE.
We had to remain on tank for 2023 and it was hugely detrimental.
If you can’t get swerve working, I would consider mecanum since the main downside is that it’s easier to be pushed around, but there should be fairly minimal defense, or at the very least, the scoring zone is protected.
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Considering the way cycles will probably function during this game, swerve would definitely be more efficient for the robots rotation as previously mentioned by others. Theres definitely going to be plenty of rotating and turning for alignment and agility purposes, so prioritizing a swerve, despite its complexity, would be much more beneficial in my opinion! Best of luck!
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Well, you’ll be protected in the REEF ZONE, but you would be highly vulnerable when trying to acquire coral or go between any other areas.
Also, you wouldn’t be able to fall back to being a defense pick.
If you do choose to go mecanum, I recommend you do both of the following:
- ensure you have a ton of practice time (like 2 solid weeks) – your only option is to be a glass cannon, and to do that, you need to be excellent at scoring
- implement and practice with field-oriented drive (you will need a gyro)
The usual reason mecanum fails is because people go, “we can go sideways with less time/effort than swerve”, but you still need lots of practice time to drive it well, and your mechanisms need to be as good or better than they’d be on a swerve base. At least with a differential drive, if your mechanisms don’t work well, you can still be picked as a defense 'bot.
One of Citrus’s golden rules applies here: use a proven (for you) drivetrain. If you’ve already built a field-oriented mecanum in the recent past and have someone who’s good at driving one, it could work. Otherwise, it’s probably not a good idea, regardless of the potential benefits.
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