Design and Development of a Reconfigurable Screw-wheeled Omnidirectional Mobile Robot

Omnidirectional mobility plays an important role for mobile robots to provide flexibility in their motion. However, most of the existing omnidirectional mechanisms are only superior in indoor applications, but inappropriate for outdoor purposes. This paper introduces the design and development of an omnidirectional mobile robot with reconfigurable screw-wheeled mechanism. The orientation of the screw wheels is adjustable in order to enable flexibility in traction control to provide more propulsion drive in certain conditions. The experimental results are given to demonstrate the performance of the omnidirectional mobile robot on different ground surfaces and different wheel's orientation.