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Version 1 Hardware

A project log for OMNi

A modular, semi-autonomous, omnidirectional robot for telepresent applications

will-donaldsonWill Donaldson 09/26/2021 at 21:260 Comments

The first version of this robot focused on rapid development to verify the validity of our solution. A key constraint for robots operating in museums and other indoor environments is that they must be very agile with the ability to drive down narrow hallways, navigate around people, and avoid obstacles. To address this we chose to use three omni wheels as when placed in a triangular formation they enable a robot to instantaneous drive in any direction without needing to rotate.

It is worth noting that meccanum wheels were considered as an option as wheel as they share the same holonomic property as omni wheels, however, 4 wheels can be unstable without some form of suspension (think of how you rock when sitting on a chair with one leg slightly shorter than the others), whereas 3 wheels are always stable as 3 points are always stable regardless is there are surface perturbations.

The first version of the robot was built on a frame using MDF, birch wood, and acrylic

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