Pre-production unit shown. Estimated ship date is early December.
The MK5i Swerve Module is the next revolution of the FRC swerve module, with a broad range of advancements over prior generation modules, including:
- Fully gear-driven steering system for additional robustness.
- Wider wheel for improved traction and tread life.
- Machined billet wheel with neoprene tread and molded wheel with molded spike grip tread options (Colson wheel option planned).
- Quick-change drive gear ratio accomplished by swapping only the motor pinion gear without internal disassembly of the swerve module.
- Enclosed bevel gears at the wheel help ensure field tape, carpet fuzz, and other debris do not end up in the bevel gears and grease.
- Drive and steering gears are enclosed in a molded glass-reinforced nylon housing to help keep the grease in and debris out.
- Sealed main steering bearing helps prevent carpet fuzz and other debris from entering the bearing.
- Chamfered bottom plate helps transition to driving up inclined surfaces.
Additional new features:
- One-piece main steering gear combines three parts (Center Column, Base Pulley, and screw) to simplify assembly.
- One-piece steering double gear combines two gears, one shaft, and one spacer to reduce backlash and simplify assembly.
- Intermediate drive shaft has integrated bevel gear to simplify assembly.
- Motor pinion gears have integrated motor shaft spacers to simplify assembly.
- Motor pinion gears have integrated wrench flats to hold the gear while tightening the shaft screw (no more grabbing the gear with pliers!).
- All machine screws are 10-32 to help minimize the tools needed for assembly.
- Steering encoder (not included) is fully recessed and enclosed for improved protection.
- Steering encoder wiring (not included) is recessed, and can be secured via an integrated cable tie mount for improved protection.
- Self-aligning housing to ease assembly.
Other features:
- Drive gear ratio changes are accomplished without using profile-shifted gears to help ensure efficient and quiet power transfer.
- All metal plates are made out of 7075-T6 aluminum to help ensure robust construction.
- All drive gears are steel for durability.
- Wheel is biased to the corner of the drivebase to help maximize robot stability.
- On-axis steering encoder for zero backlash measurements. Module can be disassembled/reassembled without resetting the encoder offset.
- Auxiliary 10-32 mounting holes on the main plate to mount subsystems (e.g., robot superstructure, intakes, mechanism pivot).
- Auxiliary 10-32 mounting holes on the housing for camera mounting.
- Same frame-to-floor height as previous SDS swerve modules to increase compatibility across the SDS swerve module family.
- No 3D printed parts to help ensure robust construction.
- Bottom and top mounted robot chassis capability to provide multiple frame height options.
- Includes all hardware, including the hardware to mount the module to the robot.
- Steering motor can be either a 44mm or 60mm class brushless motor, such as a Kraken X44, Kraken X60, NEO, or NEO Vortex.
The MK5i includes three different drive gear ratios that provide a broad range of speeds:
The steering gear ratio is 26:1
The swerve module ships unassembled, and the following components are not included:
- Drive motor: REV Robotics NEO V1.1, REV Robotics NEO Vortex with the 8mm keyed shaft, or WCP/CTRE Kraken X60.
- Steering motor: REV Robotics NEO V1.1, REV Robotics NEO Vortex with the 8mm keyed shaft, WCP/CTRE Kraken X60, or WCP/CTRE Kraken X44.
- Steering encoder: CTRE CANcoder, CTRE SRX Mag Encoder, Thrifty Absolute Magnetic Encoder, Redux HELIUM Canandmag, or equivalent.
Note: The above steering encoders come with the ⌀.250”x 0.500” magnet that gets installed in the swerve module's main steering gear. That magnet is not included in the swerve module kit.
The production encoder cover will be translucent so the encoder's status lights are visible without removing the cover (pre-production cover shown is opaque black).
The swerve module can be directly mounted to commonly available 2" x 1" aluminum tubing with pre-drilled 10-32 clearance holes on 0.5" pitch (example).
The swerve module's main plate typically mounts on top of the robot chassis. However, there is also clearance to mount the chassis on top of the module main plate to maximize ground clearance under the chassis.
Without the encoder and motors, the MK5i weighs approximately 4.1 pounds. A ready-to-run MK5i weighs approximately 6.1 pounds, which includes:
Complete swerve module with the bottom plate and chassis mounting hardware,
Steering encoder.
Steering motor (Kraken X44).
Drive motor (Kraken X60, or NEO + Spark Max Motor Controller).
Chassis mounting hardware.
Files:
- Layout Drawing
- CAD Model coming soon
- Parts List coming soon
- Assembly Guide: coming soon
