An omnidirectional mobile robot

A novel omnidirectional wheeled mobile robot, mainly composed of three special wheeled structures-MY wheel, is developed in this paper. Based on the movement principle of sphere, the sphere of the special wheel is divided into contact part and non-contact part. The function of the omnidirectional wheel is realized utilizing the mutual complementarities of the two parts of the sphere. The passive rotational axes of two parts of the sphere are in staggered arrangement to each other at an angle of 45 degrees to realize continuous contact with the ground. At the same time, this structure also improves the strength of omnidirectional wheel. It is verified by the kinematic analysis and simulation of the wheeled mobile mechanism that the mechanism can achieve the omnidirectional movement. It is also proved by the movement experiment of the mobile robot that the omnidirectional mechanism can not only achieve the omnidirectional movements but also step over obstacles.