Elliptical Double Mecanum Wheels for Autonomously Traversing Rough Terrains

Mecanum wheels give vehicles/robots omni-***directional capabilities, while regular wheels don't. The omni-***directionality that such wheels provide makes the vehicle extremely maneuverable, which could be helpful in different indoor and outdoor applications. However, current Mecanum wheels designs can only operate on flat hard surfaces, and perform very poorly on rough terrains. This paper extends our previous work on two modified designs of Mecanum wheels having elliptical and semi-circular designs targeted for precise omni-***directional navigation on rough terrains. The paper presents the mathematical formulations used in the design of the corresponding rollers which differs from the traditional Mecanum wheel rollers. The wheels proposed here are advantageous for overcoming obstacles up to 75% of the overall wheel diameter in lateral motion which significantly facilitates the lateral motion of vehicles on hard rough surfaces and soft soils which cannot be achieved using other onmi-directional wheels.