My team had an interesting idea. We have some omniwheels that are unpowered during the match, they are to support a large extension off the back of the robot. The robot can’t turn if they are powered. The question they had was, can they only be powered at the the end of the match to help the robot park? In other words, is there a way in ModKit to set a motor to ‘coast’ so the wheels can turn freely during the match, but then engage only when a button is pressed to power it?
Daddycrusader~
In a word, no.
The motor setup in Modkit does allow for the “holding” option to be set to “off,” but even when the hold is set to “off,” the motor will not spin freely. (You mave have experienced a raised clawbot arm that will slowly drop.)
Of course, if holding is set to “on,” the brain will supply enough power to the motor to keep it from passively turning (in this case, a clawbot arm that is raised and under load will not drop until program ends or a new command is sent to the motor.)
My suggestion is to turn the wheels at an angle, such as in a holonomic drive train. Then the omni directional wheels will still roll by themselves. Plus, you can still power them when needed. Check out some online examples of holonomic drive trains to see what I mean.