Technical and industrial applications of mobile robotics are rapidly gaining attention. These are widely used for transportation, inspection, and surveillance purposes. One of the fundamental reasons behind the increasing popularity of autonomous mobile robot design is its locomotive ability to move across the operational spaces avoiding any obstacles and finding a path to reach the next location and perform another task. These capabilities are known as localization and navigation.

The robot needs to have an accurate idea about its current location to move and reach another location. This means that it uses a wide variety of algorithms, external references, and sensors.

Go through the following passages to learn more about these interesting mobile robots.

Previous Works:

The Mecanum wheel was first invented in 1973 by a Swedish engineer named Ilon at Mecanum company. Using four of the wheels offers an omnidirectional movement for any vehicle without requiring a conventional steering system.

The very first mobile robot designed with Mecanum wheels was named Uranus. It didn’t have a suspension system which created a significant problem for it to move on any steep or rough ground.

Drawbacks of a Mobile Robot with Mecanum Wheels :

Any vehicle with mecanum wheels, including a mobile robot, is susceptible to slippage and subsequently lateral traveling distance becomes different from the longitudinal traveling distance. The ratio of these two distances also continues to change with a slight alteration in the ground condition.

Secondly, the contact point between the ground and wheel moves in parallel with the wheel axis, even when the wheel is in contact with the ground. That way any lateral movement produces a significant horizontal vibration.

Lastly, its ability to overcome any obstacle is not independent of the direction of movement. Naturally, the robot cannot move towards any possible direction.

Important Features:

Modern robotics has come a long way from Uranus and now addresses the above-mentioned limitations. Here are the two most prominent features of today’s mobile robots:

Omnidirectional Mobility :

The term omnidirectional refers to the ability of a system to move instantaneously toward any possible range of direction. Conventional robotic vehicles are mostly designed to move on a plane like a table, road, or warehouse floor. In these two dimensional spaces, a robotic body has three DoFs (Degrees of Freedom). But omnidirectional robot designs have a higher advantage as these can move in tight spaces. These can turn on the spot, crab sideways, and follow any complex trajectory.

Wheel Design:

There are two types of wheel designs once it comes to omnidirectional robots. The conventional wheel designs for the omnidirectional mobile robots have larger loading capacities and more tolerance for any ground irregularities than the special wheel configurations.

Special wheel designs are based on the fundamental concept which actives traction in one direction and allows for a passive motion on the other. All three mechanisms including Machanum or Swedish wheel, the universal wheel, and the ball wheel are involved here.

Conclusion:

Modern day omnidirectional mobile robots have found a wide range of applications in factory workshop offices, hospitals, warehouses, etc. We believe, the efficient roboticists will further the experimentation in robot design and create even more advanced mobile robots.

For more information about mobile robotics, reach the professionals at Custom Entertainment Solutions at 01.801.410.4869.