The OmniBot

Introduction

The omni-bot is a remote control vehicle that makes use of three omni-directional wheels to travel in any direction, while simultaneously controlling rotation. See the Palm Pilot Robot Kit for another example of this type of holonomic drive system. The OmniBot is controlled with a standard 3-channel R/C plane controller, with two of the channels controlled by a 2-axis joystick (controlling the translational motion), and the third channel controlled by a slider (meant for a throttle, in our case used to control rotation).

This was all done as a final project for EGRE364: Microcomputer Systems at VCU(Fall 2003). The final product works, and is kind of fun to play with, but the performance is somewhat lacking. It needs a smooth surface (no carpet, please), and preferably a surface with good grip (a rubber mat works real nice), and it moves kind of slow. But at least it moves! I guess I just had an image of it zipping accross the room, and was a little let-down when it only crawled. Bigger wheels would be a big improvement, in the speed, grip, and ground clearance departments. Part of the reason is can't handle rugs is that with the 4cm wheels, the bottom of the body just barely clears the ground. There is also room for improvement in the software. Perhaps someday we'll come back and rewrite better software in C, but not today. For now its done.

You can find a bit more info about how we built it in these pages, but if you have questions about it, feel free to ask me or Dean.