Abstract
With the increasing worldwide demand to automate product distribution, technology firms are introducing various mobile robots to the market. Generally, the maneuverability of the mobile robot is determined by the type and location of its wheels. Omnidirectional mobile platforms suitable for the agile motion required during instantaneous obstacle avoidance are widely used in congested environments like indoor factories. Previous omnidirectional mobile robots have been developed for specific purposes that prevented operation beyond the predesigned limits. To overcome this, we propose an omnidirectional mobile platform that can be connected to another platform. This type of modular structure can improve the efficiency of the entire logistics network by allowing flexible deployment according to the workload. The proposed system is able to generate holonomic movement with four mecanum wheels, and can connect with different mobile platforms using a connecting module at the side of each platform. To derive the kinematic model of the connected mobile platform, we first derive the analytical kinematic relationship between the connected platform center and each wheel. Next, we conducted simulations using RecurDyn, a dynamic simulation program, for three different types of connected mobile platforms. Our simulation results show that the position and velocity trajectory derived from the kinematic model well follows the reference trajectory at different connection cases.
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