Manipulation. Sensors. Knowledge Processing. Robot Assembly. Omniwheels Gaining Popularity in Robotics. A recent workshop that involved some rapid development using RoboCup robots, a demonstration of KUKA's omniMove platform, and my previous posts on KUKA's youBot and the ETH Zurich's Rezero ballbot have gotten me interested in omniwheels.
Omniwheels and their variations (also called omnidirectional wheels, Swedish wheels, Mecanum wheels, or Ilon wheels) are an ingenious invention that allows a platform to move in any direction while facing any other direction. Historically, omniwheels date back to a 1919 patent by J. DESIRE. Robot Store.