Heavy-Payload Omnidirectional Robot

Abstract

This paper elaborates a Heavy-Payload Omnidirectional Robot (Hobot) that can efficiently carry heavy payloads on uneven indoor floors. It consists of four Steer-able Differential-Geared Dual-Wheels (SDD), composed a differential-geared dual-wheel, a passive tilt-adapting joint and a suspension washer. In order to combine heavy-payload and omnidirectionality, the mechanism is designed by means of evaluating its four qualitative criteria and two quantitative metrics. The criteria are ground contact, energy efficiency, type of omnidirectionality and internal stress distribution. The metrics are Support Force Isotropy (SFI) and Critically Loaded Mass (CLM). The feasibility of Hobot prototype was verified by omnidirectional motion experiments under heavy payloads. The results show that Hobot can efficiently carry a total mass of 2,130kg under speed of 0.3m/s using only an average power of 646W.