An Omnidirectional, Direct Singularity Drive System and its Inverse Kinematic Model

Abstract

This paper presents an omnidirectional drive system. The design presented here involves a spinning hemispherical wheel mounted on a gimbal. The wheel operates at its singularity point when in the “neutral” or static position. As the gimbal is tilted, the wheel provides a thrust vector to the vehicle. The tilt determines the effective radius of the wheel, which in turn determines the amount of power that can be transmitted for motion. The paper presents the design and kinematic and inverse kinematics analysis of a singularity drive mechanism. Vehicles can have single or multiple singularity drive mechanisms to achieve increasing levels of maneuverability. From a control standpoint, each singularity drive is kinematically decoupled from other drives on the same vehicle. Vehicles with one, two and three singularity drive mechanisms are introduced and some experimental results are presented.