1. VEX Drive Trains

2. Drive Trains Vocabulary Skid Steering (Tank Drive) Swerve Drive
Holonomic (Omni Drive)
Mecanum Drive

3. Drive Train
A robot’s drive train consists of all of the components used to make the robot move.
Motors
Wheels
Gears

4. Motors Motors make attached axles spin at a set speed.
Perfect for wheels and gears.
Motors can’t turn to an exact position.

5. High Strength Motors (393)
Standard Motors (269)
standard motors
light weight
batteries last longer
High Strength Motors (393)
give 30% more torque or 30% more speed (if you change the internal gears)
heavy
reduce battery life
J.M. Gabrielse

6. Command Joystick Motor Forward (+127) Neutral (0) Backward (-127)
Delete the “Servo” column!
J.M. Gabrielse

7. Tank Drive
The left and right sides of the robot are powered by different motors.
Each wheel of the Simplebot is directly connected to a motor.
motor
motor
motor
motor
Simplebot Base

8. X-Wheel Drive X = how many wheels are connected to motors
Two wheel drive: two wheels are powered
Four wheel drive: four wheels are powered
How many motors the robot has doesn’t matter:
The protobot has only two motors, but it is an example of four wheel drive since all four wheels are connected to motors.

9. Skid Steering (Tank Drive)
To turn, one side goes forward and the other goes backwards.

10. Wheels

11. High Traction Rounded Tread
These wheels include a smooth “grippy” tire which has high traction on smooth surfaces.

12. High Traction Square Tread
These wheels include a tire which works well on any surface.

13. High Traction Rough “Knobby” Tread
These wheels include a “knobby” tire which works great on rough terrain or loose surfaces.

14. Omni-Wheels
Rollers around the edges allow omni-wheels to roll sideways
The 4” omni-wheels are in your kits. The 3” onmi-wheels are not included.

15. A swerve drive robot has the ability to rotate its wheels.
Swerve/Crab Drive
A swerve drive robot has the ability to rotate its wheels.

16. Holonomic (Omni) Drive
Omni wheels pointing in opposite directions allow the robot to move in any direction or spin.

17. Mecanum Wheel
Mecanum wheels allow savvy robot designers to create drive trains capable of moving in any direction using a standard chassis shape.
Simply power each wheel with a different motor and by changing the directions the wheels spin get your robot to move in any direction!