Development of the differential drive steering system using spur gear for omni-directional mobile robot

Abstract

Holonomic omni-directional mobile robots are very useful at narrow or crowded areas because of their high mobility performance, and omni-directional mobile robots equipped with normal tires are desired for their ability to surmount the difference in ground level as well as their vibration suppression and ride comfort. Up to the present, the caster-drive mechanism using normal tires has been developed to realize a holonomic omni-directional mobile robot, but some problems have been left. In this paper, we present an effective system to control the electric caster-drive wheel of omnidirectional mobile robots, Differential Drive Steering System (DDSS) using differential gearing is proposed to improve the operation ratio of motors. The proposed DDSS generates the driving and the steering outputs effectively from utilizing two motors. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed system is effective for both of the mobility and energy saving. ©2012 The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.