Research on a tracked omnidirectional and cross-country vehicle

• A tracked omnidirectional and cross-country vehicle has been developed.
• It can achieve omnidirectional motion on uneven terrains.
• It has superior steering motion efficiency to conventional tracked vehicles.
• It has equal longitudinal motion efficiency to conventional tracked vehicles.
• It has comparable cross-country performance to conventional tracked vehicles.

Conventional tracked vehicles have superior cross-country capability compared to common wheeled vehicles, but poor maneuverability, especially poor steering performance. However, the existing omnidirectional vehicles have poor cross-country capability despite much higher maneuverability than common vehicles. This paper presents an innovational track running mechanism, a vehicle construction and its unique kinematical and dynamical theories, with an independent electric drive system used to construct a tracked omnidirectional and cross-country vehicle — a tracked-omni-vehicle. The vehicle demonstrates omnidirectional motion on uneven terrains, superior steering efficiency, equal longitudinal motion efficiency, and comparable cross-country performance in comparison to conventional tracked vehicles. The success of the tracked-omni-vehicle has made a breakthrough in the running mode of conventional tracked vehicles and the limitations of omnidirectional vehicles in engineering applications.