They are called Mecanum wheels.

http://youtu.be/IlmKcohyXG0

About time they reinvented the wheel!

They've been around for a while... look in the background of the newest Star Trek and maybe Dances with Smurfs as well. I know I've seen them on screen a couple times.

Kind of awesome. Pointlessly complex.

http://jalopnik.com/341937/...to-pick-up-strippers

http://www.mattracks.com/

that reminds me of the wheel system on the Audi from iRobot. They even went so far in the special features to even tell us what they were comprised of lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...CbXZE&feature=fvwrel

What a mechanical nightmare to service. "Hey one of my wheels is stuck"

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 08-14-2011).]

quote Originally posted by skuzzbomer: They've been around for a while... look in the background of the newest Star Trek and maybe Dances with Smurfs as well. I know I've seen them on screen a couple times. Kind of awesome. Pointlessly complex.

I seen them last night on an old mythbusters show. They only had a quick glimps of them (on their forklift), as they had nothing to do with the show. But what I saw was so crazy, I had to look for more info on them. Not saying it's gonna be the next automotive tire, I just thought it was a very interesting design.

quote Originally posted by 1fatcat: I seen them last night on an old mythbusters show. They only had a quick glimps of them (on their forklift), as they had nothing to do with the show. But what I saw was so crazy, I had to look for more info on them. Not saying it's gonna be the next automotive tire, I just thought it was a very interesting design.

Search a show called Prototype This, or something like that. Those wheels were a segment before the busters used them. The show was about manufacturing prototypes.
Like the show Junkyard Wars, it started off as a cool show but lost its luster.

quote Originally posted by Rickady88GT: Search a show called Prototype This, or something like that. Those wheels were a segment before the busters used them. The show was about manufacturing prototypes. Like the show Junkyard Wars, it started off as a cool show but lost its luster.

I didn't like junk yard wars. It seemed too staged to me. There was one episode they had to build a blimp and just so happened to find large quantities of some aircraft foil and model airplane propellers just lying around in a junk yard...yeah, right.
Sorry, this is off topic, but beings it's my post and already in off topic, this should be ok. Right?

Somehow, I just don't see those wheels on anything NASCAR is running. Interesting though way to complex and most likely maintenance heavy for most practical applications.

------------------
Ron

quote Originally posted by 1fatcat: I didn't like junk yard wars. It seemed too staged to me. There was one episode they had to build a blimp and just so happened to find large quantities of some aircraft foil and model airplane propellers just lying around in a junk yard...yeah, right. Sorry, this is off topic, but beings it's my post and already in off topic, this should be ok. Right?

I agree 100%, that is how it lost its luster

The fab/machine shop that I worked at last made a few prototype main frames for Airtrax forklifts. I did most of the machine work on them. One of the owners of Airtrax died about 5 or 6 years ago and we lost the account. I think Airtrax actually shut down there for a while. There were still complete Airtrax bodies, frames and tons of parts we made that they payed for and never picked up there when I left.

Saw them once in Radio Shack.. some RC Car thingie had 'em. (edit : the Vex) also I think there's a kids robot tow with 'em.

Interesting design...

Print your own!

http://hackaday.com/2010/04...-mecanum%C2%A0wheel/

[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 08-15-2011).]