Mecanum wheel

Movements to any directions: blue: wheel drive direction; red: vehicle moving direction. a) Moving straight ahead, b) Moving sideways, c) Moving diagonally, d) Moving around a bend, e) Rotation, f) Rotation around the central point of one axle

A Mecanum wheel is an omnidirectional wheel design for a land-based vehicle to move in any direction. It is sometimes called the Swedish wheel or Ilon wheel after its inventor, Bengt Erland Ilon (1923–2008),[1] who conceived of the concept while working as an engineer with the Swedish company Mecanum AB, and patented it in the United States on November 13, 1972.[2]

It consists of a series of rubberized external rollers set at a 45° angle to the wheel. Each wheel is independently-driven, and the direction of travel is dependent on the interaction between the directions each wheel is driven in relative to the others.

Uses include forklifts which require very tight maneuvering, autonomous robots, and wheelchairs.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference patent-de was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference patent-us was invoked but never defined (see the help page).