Optimum Kinetimatics Design of Drives for Wheeled Mobile Robots Based on Cam-Roller Pairs

Abstract

This paper proposes innovative drives for omnidirectional and quasi-omni-directional wheeled mobile robots. A novel epicyclic cam transmission is developed to transmit motion in the drives, with some advantages over its gear-train counterparts: low friction, high stiffness, and high precision. In this work, three new indices, the contact ratio in cam transmissions, the generalized transmission index, and the total transmission index, are proposed to evaluate the force and motion transmission qualities. Furthermore, the first two indices are the objective functions of the design of the dual-wheel transmission, the final design thus achieving the best transmission performance. The reported drives have been virtually prototyped.