Local and Global Isotropy Analysis of Caster Wheeled Omnidirectional Mobile Robot

The omnidirectional mobility of a mobile robot may lose significance in motion control, unless the isotropy characteristics of the mechanism is maintained well. This paper investigates the local and global isotropy of an omnidirectional mobile robot with three caster wheels. All possible actuations with different number and combination of rotating and steering joints are considered. First, the kinematic model based on velocity decomposition and the algebraic conditions for the local isotropy are obtained. Second, the geometric conditions for the local isotropy are derived and all isotropic configurations are fully identified. Third, the global isotropy index is examined to determine the optimal parameters in terms of actuation set, characteristic length, and steering link length.