Omnidirectional Robot with Active Caster Wheels

An omnidirectional mobile robot with active caster wheels was developed to study the dynamics and the characteristics of such wheels. Mechanics and electronics have been developed at the NTB. The robot has been programmed with the open source robot framework EEROS and is able to move freely in the plane and to balance a stick. This application shows that the robot and this type of wheels is also suitable for highly dynamic applications.

An omnidirectional mobile robot is characterized by its ability to freely move in the plane and thus has three degrees of freedom. This capability can be achieved by means of several types of wheels. One of these type of wheels are the active caster wheels, having an eccentricity of the steering shaft to the rotation axis of the wheel. The advantage of omnidirectional mobile robots with active caster wheels over other omnidirectional drive systems is that standard wheels can be used. This means that it is possible to select the more suitable wheel type for each kind of floor, depending on the flatness, degree of soiling etc. .