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.