Swerve Central

This is a consolidation point for key and current information and engineering concerning swerve drive. It primarily deals with FRC 1640's swerve drive, but references to other systems and sources are included.

What is Swerve Drive

In FRC circles, swerve drive can be used for any drive train in which all drive wheels are steered. For this forum, the definition will be restricted to drive trains where all drive wheels are independently driven and steered.

Benefits of Swerve Drive

• Agility - a true 2-d drive train in which drive direction is divorced from chassis orientation
• Traction - high traction wheels may be employed without negative consequence; furthermore drive force may be vectored in any desired direction
• Stealth - no need to telegraph intentions via chassis reorientation
• Flexibility - with the drive direction and power controlled independently to each wheel by software, multiple drive modes, including game-specific drive modes, become possible
• Dynamic Steering - for most FRC drive trains, driver joystick input maps 1:1 with drive train motor instructions; swerve steering directions to each wheel need not simply reflect driver joystick input, but may also reflect current "t" status in determining "t+δt" motor instructions; from a practical standpoint, this may be used as an agility force-multiplier

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