So my teams robot is strong enough to lift, but it cant fit in the corner. Our solution is to use a 3-wheel drive. My question is whether a 3-wheel x-drive is possible, and if so, how?
So a kiwi drive is the term you are looking for. The wheels are 120 degrees apart rather than 90 degrees like on an X drive. It is still fully holonomic, which means it can move in all directions.
Here is an Example
Surely 120 degrees instead of 90 degrees on a normal x drive.
Yup, just fixed it.
I feel like this isn’t a great solution… Unless you call something like 15 degrees forwards, you end up with a 2 motor drive most of the time. I can assure you that a 2 motor drive isn’t going to be a sustainable solution.
Yep, you definitely don’t want to do a kiwi drive.
You could build a 6 motor Kiwi drive, but then you would still essentially only have 4 motors running the robot, which of course is fine, but then you’re using an extra 2 motors that you could be using elsewhere.