Omni Wheel Robot Project

Let's Make Robots Robots
1

The goal of this project is to:

  1. Develop my understanding of omni wheel locomotion
  2. Design a robot that can drive a perfectly straight line

I have done some research on omni wheel robots for a few months now and have decided to finally roll up my sleeves and start building. You have many options for wheels when it comes to omni wheels. I decided to steer clear of the mecanum wheels purely based on price alone. I ended up selecting the Vex omni wheels. There will be three wheels total (See attached Omni Wheel Diagram). The two wheels in the front will be powered from a single motor running a proportional direct drive train. This will provide my forward and reverse motion. The wheel in the rear will sit perpendicular to the front wheels, powered by an independent motor. This will provide side to side motion. When both motors are in motion the desired result will be a "floating left to right" motion.

All of this will be controlled remotely by a PICAXE-28x1 sending signal via RF.

This of course is a work in progress so I will update photos and text as I finish significant portions of the project.

Project Photos:



RF Remote

 

Wonder about, in many directions

  • Actuators / output devices: 36mm BaneBot planetary gearmotors
  • Control method: non-autonomous
  • CPU: PICAXE-28x1, PICAXE-40x1
  • Power source: 12vdc Acid
  • Programming language: pbasic 2.5
  • Sensors / input devices: RF
  • Target environment: indoor
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/omni-wheel-robot-project
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Update - RF Remote Finished

Remote1.jpg
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Remote2.jpg
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Last night I finished putting the RF remote all together. A few final eads were soldered into place. Unexpectedly she worked like a charm the first time out of the gate. I tested it by setting up the receiver to a PICAXE-40x1 which listened for the commands, then out put them to an LCD.

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Update - New PVC Material

DIY_Pillow_Bearing_Block_PVC.jpg
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The base (and other random parts) of this bot will be constructed out of PVC. I got a 1" thick and .5" think slab of PVC from Small Parts. I am using the .5" PVC for the base and the 1" thick stuff for the bearing blocks. So far so good.