ROLLMOBS, a new universal wheel concept

This paper presents a new family of omnidirectional and holonomic vehicles or, in short, omnimobile robots. The robot can perform simultaneously longitudinal, translational and rotational motions, providing full mobility. The concept is based on the original combination of a sphere driven by a classical universal wheel. The sphere in contact with the ground provides the robot high performances (load capacity, maximum surmountable bump height) and smooth motion (no vibrations). The universal wheel tread is not a tyre but consist on several freely rotating rollers that allow free motion of the sphere in the plane orthogonal to the roller axis.