Mecanum wheels in a different configuration

Community General Discussions
1

I would like to ask people about a technical question for using mecanum wheels.

I would be interested in building a new robot with mecanum wheels. However, lack of space forces me to use a configuration out of the ordinary. I would like to use a configuration similar in one used by omniwheels (societyofrobots.com/images/robot_omni_fuzzy.jpg). I made some force diagrams and with some calculations, I can say that this type of configuration would be possible and give performances like a 4WD set-up for mecanum wheels. However, since mecanum wheels are pretty new to me and I feel that I might be missing something.

This is where you guys come in. Could some people confirm that the configuration mentioned above is possible with mecanum wheels in all directions and provide the same omni-directionality properties of a standard set-up. If it turns out that it is not possible, could you explain to me why so that I could update my understanding of this type of wheel.

Thank you in advance,

P.S. If it happens to be possible a video giving a demonstration would be awesome :smiley:

2

Given the current design of the robot being made, space is limited and could not fit omniwheels. I do think i may have presented the design in a wrong way.

I would bring one side (say it is the right) in a 90 degrees rotation and have the wheels in a cross configuration (as described in the following image)

 *W*
   |
  • | *
    W--------W
  • | *
    |
    W

Legend - W: Wheels
* : represents the axis the wheels spin

I hope this clarification helps a bit, seeing my first post was not as clear as I thought

3

Interesting approach - not many people have played around with that. If you have done a force diagram on each wheel, that’s more than we can offer you at this time. Unlike the omniwheel configuration, when you roll each pair of wheels, there will be a force exerted at a ~45 degree angle which will ultimately slow down the robot. So far as we know, Mecanum wheels were not made for that configuration. why not simply choose omniwheels instead?

4

Very odd configuration for mecanum wheels… never seen it before and no clue what would happen. Sorry, but if it’s something you feel strongly about, you’ll just need to test it.