ROX-Meca

The ROX platform with Mecanum wheels provides omnidirectional movement capabilities to mobile robots. This kinematic solution requires only four motors and a simple parallel placement of the wheels. This allows the robot to move seamlessly in any direction or orientation, providing great flexibility for motion planning. Additionally, to ensure reliable ground contact with all four wheels on uneven terrain, one axle is pivot-mounted.

Mecanum wheels offer unique advantages:

• The Mecanum kinematics allows for seamless and instant changes in direction without requiring wheel alignment.
• The mathematical description of the drive kinematics is very simple and well suited for mobile manipulators, which can thus perform particularly demanding and space-grasping movements of the tool.

The Mecanum kinematics comes with some drawbacks:

• All wheels must have reliable ground contact at all times, as dirt and slippage can cause problems.
• Compared to the ROX-Argo and MPO-700, which are also omnidirectional, the payload and efficiency are significantly lower.
• At high speeds, noise and vibrations can occur on very hard surfaces.