Post by thread:[OT]: Interesting app of a microprocessor

I couldn't see the video, but I saw the picture of the wheel http://www.airtrax.com/products/ATX/whatomni.htm which reminds me of a palm pilot robot with three wheels mounted equally spaced on a circle with their direction of rotation tangential to the circle ( imagine nailing three wheels into a disc at the edges of the disc - turns it into a lazy susan). They used wheels that had rollers on them which would allow the wheel to slide along the ground sidways without moving forward or backward (unless, of course, the wheel itself was rolling forward or backward.) Neat stuff. I doubt this one is rated for highway speeds, though ;-) It's fun to think that people are still intent on improving the wheel... -Adam Eoin Ross wrote: {Quote hidden}>http://www.airtrax.com/images/airtraxwebdownload.rm > >This video will have you doing a double-take and wondering >"How the @#@# does that work?" > >http://www.airtrax.com/products/ATX/atx-e3000.htm > >-- >http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: >[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads > > > > > -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

There is a very interesting Wheel Chair base developed at the Veteran's Administrate Hospital in San Jose based on this technique. I saw the prototype about 15 years ago. You could rotate go forward and sideways or any combination of the three motions. It was 3 axis joystick controlled. One of the fun things we did when I visited them was to drive it down a sidewalk with rotation and string the stick in the opposite direction. What happened was we were doing pirouettes as we went down the sidewalk. They at that time had just patented the base idea. w.. "M. Adam Davis" wrote: {Quote hidden}> > I couldn't see the video, but I saw the picture of the wheel > http://www.airtrax.com/products/ATX/whatomni.htm > > which reminds me of a palm pilot robot with three wheels mounted equally > spaced on a circle with their direction of rotation tangential to the > circle ( imagine nailing three wheels into a disc at the edges of the > disc - turns it into a lazy susan). They used wheels that had rollers > on them which would allow the wheel to slide along the ground sidways > without moving forward or backward (unless, of course, the wheel itself > was rolling forward or backward.) > > Neat stuff. I doubt this one is rated for highway speeds, though ;-) > > It's fun to think that people are still intent on improving the wheel... > > -Adam > > Eoin Ross wrote: > > >www.airtrax.com/images/airtraxwebdownload.rm > > > >This video will have you doing a double-take and wondering > >"How the @#@# does that work?" > > > >www.airtrax.com/products/ATX/atx-e3000.htm > > > >-- > >http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: > >[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: > [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

The basic idea for an omnidirectional wheel is not very old but not all that new, either. I think one of the NASA engineers from the Apollo program invented something very similar in the 60s or 70s. Other people in my research group (or, rather, the research group that I belong to :-) work on the RoboCup competition and use omnidirectional wheels like these. We had a presentation on their history and mechanics. Apparently the engineer thought up the idea after reading a passage from the Book of Daniel, where it talks about some kind of apparition involving an animal which could move sideways without turning. I don't know the chapter and verse, but it actually describes (in very little detail) something like what is in this photo, IIRC! (I'm not claiming that the Bible tells you how to build an omni wheel, just that you can see where the engineer got the idea from). Sean At 05:48 PM 5/22/02 -0400, you wrote: {Quote hidden}>I couldn't see the video, but I saw the picture of the wheel >http://www.airtrax.com/products/ATX/whatomni.htm > >which reminds me of a palm pilot robot with three wheels mounted equally >spaced on a circle with their direction of rotation tangential to the >circle ( imagine nailing three wheels into a disc at the edges of the >disc - turns it into a lazy susan). They used wheels that had rollers >on them which would allow the wheel to slide along the ground sidways >without moving forward or backward (unless, of course, the wheel itself >was rolling forward or backward.) > >Neat stuff. I doubt this one is rated for highway speeds, though ;-) > >It's fun to think that people are still intent on improving the wheel... > >-Adam -- http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic: [PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

I´ve read a book "Ancient technology" that sums up things like this from the bible*), and other old writings, like from india it found a book on flight navigation, and a story written of someone traveling to foreign land where there were some aeroplane combat. Go figure... And a store of ancient primary cells found in a cave. (clay,copper,iron IIRC) For what purpose?? And how come there are thousand years old minings where we see heaps of small cylindrical brokenstone fragments, exactly like from modern diamond drills...? No machine found, but if we let a modern tractor outside a couple thousand years it will also be gone "without a trace". We know civilisations can die. (sickness, war, natural catastrophe...) Also know our technology has evolved quickly. Other civilisatins may have both evolved and died quickly. Hard to believe everything in the book, but it has pictures and references and i could not find anyting wrong... *) This is done while reading the texts in original language with more open mind and more language knowledge than when the bilbe was translated before. /Morgan Hej Barry Michels. Tack för ditt meddelande 01:35 2002-05-23 enligt nedan: >Actually, it's in Ezekiel chapter 1. Starting in verse 15 he describes a >wheel within a wheel. Verses 12 and 17 mention moving without turning. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics

>The basic idea for an omnidirectional wheel is not very old but not all >that new, either. In school i made a special project on wheels, and built a model using this technology in LEGO and some additional mechanics. Really fun to manuever :) ~16yr ago. There was a wheel chair using this technology but i think it was too expensive to be successful. Also, theese wheels are *very* bad on sand, grass, etc... :/ /Morgan -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics

I have my doubts that this would be prior art. The base was not self balancing. However I bet a bunch of fuzzy logic pendulum balancers from tragde shows 8 or 9 years ago might have an opinion on the prior art parts. w.. "Alan B. Pearce" wrote: {Quote hidden}> >What happened was we were doing pirouettes as we > >went down the sidewalk. They at that time had just > >patented the base idea. > > And Airtrax claim to have a patent pending on their wheel. I wonder if > counts as prior art to confound their application. > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics > (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics