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. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

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

8. 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.

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

10. Holonomic Drive in Action
A VEX robot with a holonomic drive