Personal Vehicle with Friction-Drive Active Omni Wheel and Reduced Motor Drive Mechanism

Abstract

Personal vehicles with high degrees of mobility are required to improve usability and safety. In this study, we propose a personal vehicle that can move not only longitudinally but also laterally by using a friction-drive active omni wheel (AOW). To solve the problems of control and slippage in the conventional friction-drive AOW, a reduced motor drive mechanism and a newly designed AOW are introduced, which contribute to reducing the size and weight of the drive mechanism of the personal vehicle. Experiments were conducted with prototypes of the proposed AOW and personal vehicle, and it was confirmed that they worked as expected.