Today I would like to share a few details about omni-wheels, what they are about and how they distinguish themselves.
Principally it is easy to see: you have the omni-wheel which has rollers around the peripherie of the wheel.
What that allows you to do is to move directly sideways because the rollers move freely, perpendicular to the primary rolling direction.
What also allows you to do is not only go sideways, but while moving forward along the primary rolling direction to go sideways simultaneously. This describes a diagonal or a curve, should your rate of movement in one direction relative to the other changes.
This gives you other opportunities as well. You can turn without steering, or change direction while remaining straight. Whatever the wheels are affixed to or whatever they are carrying, they can move or miove it directly from A to B without having to rotate.
A very simple example is a shipping cart. To change directions you would normally point the shipping cart and the swivel would follow to line up with the new direction, after fighting it from wanting to going straight.
With an omni wheel, this is different. As soon as you effect a direct input, there is a direct output, in effect the cart changing directions without it or the wheels turning. You can change the direction of the cart or continue the way its facing. Either way, you move diretcly toward your new destination without describing a radius or having to align the wheels in the new direction.
Fundamentally these are the key differences between an omni wheel and a common swivel caster. This provides for quite a bit of innovation across different applications. I will get into these in future blogs.
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