Abstract
ODV9 is a newly designed nonholonomic omni-directional vehicle (ODV) to be used as a general platform for mobile robots. Omni-Directional mobility is a desirable property for such platform because indoor mobile robots are often requested to move in a narrow space. Furthermore, compared with other ODVs, the advantages of ODV9 are not limited to the simplicity of its mechanism. Benefiting from being able to use a normal type wheel equipped with a tire, e.g. air tire, ODV9 is capable of moving on somewhat bumpy surfaces. ODV9 has four wheel modules, with each wheel module incorporating one motor, one steering brake, and one normal type wheel equipped with a rubber tire. In this paper, the mechanism, the kinematics, the running modes are stated first. Next, we discuss an effective controller to stabilize the intrinsic instability of the wheel module if the steering brake is open. Finally, the characteristics of the steering wheel getting over a small step are examined through numerical simulations and experiments.
