Are Ball Shaped Wheels Practical?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 พ.ค. 2024
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A few years ago, Goodyear produced a concept for a tyre, which was a ball. But are ball shaped wheels practical, and can we make a vehicle or robot with ball shapes omni-wheels? I found a video about research carried out at Osaka University, where an omni-ball wheel is made in two halves and seems to work well. But is there more to it?
I made my own prototype with 3D printing, in both rigid PLA and TPU. Each hemisphere rotates around a smaller wheel which is oriented with the main drive axle.
Part 2: • Testing Ball-Shaped Wh...
Osaka Uni video: • Omni-Crawler Drives In...
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Former toy designer, current TH-cam maker and general robotics, electrical and mechanical engineer, I’m a fan of doing it yourself and innovation by trial and error. My channel is where I share some of my useful and not-so-useful inventions, designs and maker advice. Iron Man is my go-to cosplay, and 3D printing can solve most issues - broken bolts, missing parts, world hunger, you name it.
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How well will the robot drive when we motorise the ball wheels? Patrons and TH-cam Channel Members have part 2 already which is next week's video!
You could just put another ball in the ends with nothing there instead of a wheel. That way it could roll in any direction!
Give the ball free will. That way it can rotate in any direction it wants!
How was this posted 4 days ago when the video was posted an hour ago? Time travler?
@@darknova2467 When you're a member, you can see videos early if the video poster chooses to upload the video for members to see first.
Circumvent driving on the littlewheel in software, and then you don't need that complexity. Embed a small magnet instead at the end of the axle, and you can sense it on top when it aprroaches, and then change the rotation of the robot. No disadvantage for a mapping application.
I'm always amazed at how you make a "That would be nice, but there's so many issues"-idea into a "Holy crap it actually works"-concept.
Thanks, more next week!
I think every "there's so many issues ideas" is always worth looking at. and every time those issues can be fixed it is sooo satisfying to witness.
@@zapdrbbearbot123 Especially since it's what other modern things started out with as well (cars, house electrical systems, etc etc). Just took us plenty of time to turn something from "it's not great, but it works" to "it's workin pretty dang well", though I'd imagine it'd take many less decades by comparison considering how much more proficient our tech and computers are nowadays.
@@zapdrbbearbot123 the problem is that even if you fix the issues you actually gain nothing from doing it and you get a working but useless thing
@@pedrolmlkzk what no where did you get that from
Would that frame be strong enough to support you? Would look incredible as the base of a chair!
An office chair was my first thought too lol.
i think the 4 bearings at the bottom would break the yellow pole if you tried to sit on it
@@someguy9175 he said they were skateboard bearings. I doubt those would break first. Probably the plastic first since the geometry likely isn't strong enough to hold his weight in PLA
@@lio1234234 that was what i was saying lol, but thanks for putting it better.
@@lio1234234 Nah, he said they press fit into place kinda lika skateboard bearings. The bearings he's using are way too big to be skateboard bearings.
The superglue necking over the bearings is oddly stressful
I’m glad I’m not the only one that thought that. 👀
And he did it twice. I was at the edge of my seat
@@Violianom no 6 a least for all his bals
I wanted to say, "GIVE me that glue gun!!!". Then, after thinking about it, I realized that if this kid can design and actually build something like this, then he would surely know his way around a glue gun. It must have been humor.
The first idea actually appeared in "I Robot" movie, they than took it and actually developed a concept wheel system out of it.
Yeah the cars in I Robot were cool 👍🏽
wrong, the concept have more time. the all the sci fi movies use a scientific consultant.
@@rc3d490 never heard of this concept before I Robot, you have any sources to like first concepts of ball wheels in cars?
@@rc3d490 They might not have created the concept but they sure did popularize it
@@midgetman4206 it's true, that is the work of scientific consultants, to make science fiction movies more credible, many people just get carried away by the illusion of the movie, and take it as "prediction"
The three balls on that frame would look really cool if it were to be used as an office chair! Also would be more convenient since wheels on office chairs tend to bind.
Office chairs tend to have 5 wheels because it makes it less likely that the chair can be leaned opposite one of the wheels and as a result is less easily tipped over. Yes, it binds a bit more than with fewer wheels, but it's significantly safer.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade I doubt they would stick to 3 wheels, 5 points of contact is a minimum for office chairs. I'm just worried about already inflated price
One of my favorite sci-fi concepts is finally coming to life!
The worry that I hold is, when all of this technology is developed into mass market platforms manual driving would likely become illegal. Strafing is impractical to a forward facing pilot in a crowded situation. Unless, that is, the pilot wasn't human and could consider multiple directions at once. If these sideways maneuvers are available human error would skyrocket unless every vehicle, not just the ones which strafe, are autonomous and communicating with eachother.
which... isn't necissarily a bad thing. I for one just prefer to be in control and at the wheel. That freedom will probably eventually disappear with legislation. Hell, I wouldn't trust the average driver with these maneuverability options.
@@isaiahdaniels5643 I’ve thought of this as well. I think new training would be necessary for one. Also the ‘strafing’ could be regulated in a couple ways: only being available at extremely slow speeds mainly for parking, or being mostly inactive until the driver turns it on manually. There are other potential pros besides strafing as well like reducing slip, improving cornering, torque vectoring/traction control and nullifying other less safe maneuvers like u-turns and j-turns. I think with these things in mind and considering the current safety measures (blind spot sensors/alerts, collision prevention, cameras, etc.) we could make it work without too much danger, and still allow for human operation. I also want to be able to drive my own vehicle, but it might not work out that way. 🤞🏼
@@isaiahdaniels5643 | As I heard someone say:
"They don't have to be perfect, they just have to be better then us."
At the point where auto-cars crash less often then humans, they're viable. Still, driving your own car will probably hang on in novelty, recreation, and sport. Just like horse-riding, snow-shoeing, or hunting.
@@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth the thing is when somebody crashes with sombeody else you can blame it on the one who crashed. But when two machines crash and a human life gets lost due to that who do you blame it on??? The programer? The company? The owner of the car? Who is responsible for something that no human got directly involved in? And if the robot made a decision that could have saved a life but instead saved another like saying i can avoid a crash in wich my owner would die and i can instead run over an old man or a baby and then the car chose to run over the old man what happens? And if instead it decided it was better for the owner to die??? What about if it instead chose the baby?
Looks like you build a good base for a chair.
Same thing I was thinking!
Came here to say this
Yes
Hey, why is everybody stealing my idea? 😂
😆👍
I remember being so excited for ball shaped wheels. Would be really cool
Too me. I suddenly remember that. I was watched at both TV and TH-cam. I dreamed love these robots.
Very excited for wheel shaped balls as well.
Where's the fun and ball Wheels you can't drift with them the technology they may bring with it maybe exciting but on trucks I could see their purpose
I know right? C'mon evolution, work goddamn it
It can be nice for toys, but if we talking about cars can you imagine what a big problem the maintenance will be?
I want to see it as the base of a Sci Fi throne in a movie.
You know what
Just for you, I'll consider it.
I have no idea how you get so much work done consistently every week. It’s very inspiring.
Planning!
Magic
the two kinds of people
Drugs
Gotta put little hemi wheels in the holes of the hemi wheels!
It could be a fractal 'o balls
It's hemi wheels all the way down
We heard you like hemi wheels, so we put hemi wheels in your hemi wheels in your hemi wheels in your hemi wheels in your hemi wheels in your hemi wheels in your hemi wheels...
Put balls in the holes
@@wildcard4552 😏
Car wants to learning a new move! Car learned “Strafe!”
Parking would be effortless
Cops would eventually give up on the pit maneuver, when whoever they try to flip, keeps perpetually moving in the same direction no matter how much effort they put into redirection.
Oooh I love that Idea and really like how the robot seemed to move so smoothly at the end!
Motorised version coming next week!
It is Crazy How James take a concept and in one video he become specialist on It.
Not a specialist at all, just basic knowledge. You somehow don't understand what you're saying. A specialist is someone that has been doing and/or researching a specific thing for thousands of hours. No one can become a specialist in a few days or weeks, no matter how quickly you learn.
@@MuscarV2 James is a DIY specialist.
@@coderentity2079 thats..no.
But if it did use magnetic levitation, *technically that would make it the first hover car. . .*
they could make roads 2 cylinder shaped things that use the same magnets or system as the balls so the car would just be placed on top
@@vinzlaros I thought about that, in theory it could work but I don't think there is enough money I the world to buy that many magnets.
@@jonathanlewis6146 they'll either recycle or mine,it will never be not enuff
So a Maglev train?
I really love these tutorial ish engineering experimentation. Bravo James, hope to see more like this
Can't wait for the next video, looks like a great application for a ring gear. If that was the case I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to move the carrier around and shift into a different gear for every wheel segment by simply adding stages.🤯
Your videos are so inspiring, It's kind of like that feeling when you finally understand a new manufacturing process and you're suddenly able to think about solving a problem in an entirely different way.
That is impressive! I am amazed at the complexity of the designs you are producing. Can’t wait to see the motor drive for this.
I love your channel James. You inspire me to get into robotics and 3D printing. I always watch the sponsorships cause they are usually really helpful for your projects
I'm an engineering grad student working on rehabilitation exoskeleton arms. I'm also a very enthusiastic 3d printer. This channel has been such a huge inspiration
hello very enthusiastic 3d printer, I am a 3d printer enthusiast and I am interested in very enthusiastic 3d printer
Ok now print an exossqeleton sell it to army, *profit*
8:54 that would make a badass rolling desk chair
Love you channel James. I never know what I’m gonna wake up to each Tuesday - and that as well as the high quality of your videos keep me hooked.
Having said that, I really want you to build a robot with those wheels you showed right at the beginning from that tyre manufacturer- using magnetic levitation.
You can do it James, we believe in you! 😀
I really appreciate all the videos you put out. I have learned a lot from them.
Love it when I open TH-cam and I’m early to a vid
Has any human printed more 3d prints than James? The man must run multiple printers 24/7.
And they aren't small prints either.
Maybe Ivan Miranda!
Průša's printing farm with a thousand printers
@@MbanziSD I'd say James has more completed prints, while Ivan has printed a greater volume of plastic. :D
@@StevenIngram The volume of plastic wasted on Miranda’s channel has reached a indigestible level and is the main reason I stopped watching him... 😔
Great results! This would be a interesting/stable tripod design for a second really useful robot series!
So the car in "i robot" movie would be a reality, pretty cool video
I was pretty much going to say the same thing. Those cars in that movie seemed to be using the mag lev setup, or at least very close to it.
Wow this is a great design, you are always so creative, it would be great to see this implemented in some robot
Looks really nice! I noticed that when you get closer to the perpendicular axis, the hemispheres speed up rather quickly. So speed control may be an issue in a full robot? Is this smth you will talk about in the next video?
Can't wait to see the next video. This looks like it will be a very cool kiwi drive robot!
Omg, mahn, cant wait to see part 2 of this..
2:35 "yup.. its a wheeel"
idk why but that was so funny
It looks realy greate. You can add additional wheels in gap similar one that you have on sides to minimize that bumping effect and as well to gain a bit of space and make wheels more rigid.
A mecanum wheel track in the gap (beads at 45 degrees on a D shaped tank track) would solve it, but it's complex and looses the main advantage of this wheel design: it can go offroad. Bumps are inevitable there.
This is really awesome. Thanks for the really cool video!
Wow, that is super trippy! Cool concept!
First, congrats for your video, very concise and informative, and the basis for many mechanical and robotic applications.
At 5:33 and 6:58, I don't know if another commenter pointed out, but you should try a ball at the top of each hemisphere, coupled to a ring ball bearing, and a screw-on retaining ring; that would make the wheel even more smooth as the ball could freely rotate in any direction and make an even smoother profile into a complete sphere. I'll try to work in a Blender model if you find it useful for a follow up video.
Again, excellent video.
So far this would make a cool chair base, with motors though...
a *REALY* cool chair base.
Train it to automatically turn when you approach, or zip across the room when it sees you getting ready to sit in the air.
This is honestly a pretty interesting subject, it would be cool to one day see cars with wheels like that at some point in the future.
James I look forward to all your videos
This would make a really cool robotic platform!
Very cool! Have you considered replacing the small white wheel with ball casters? You wouldn't need to worry about the aligning the axis of rotation. Plus, it would limit the gap between the larger ball and ball caster.
This is brilliant, thank you for the inspiration!!
Perhaps for a future revision, instead of having little wheels in the bottom of the assembly, have ball bearings or perhaps the balls they had in old computer mice, to allow everything to glide smoothly. Your videos are truly inspiring and I look forward to them every week, Thank you!
I wonder if the GoodYear concept would work better with an attached underpiece that prevents the wheel from falling out even with the magnetic forces. And I do see the problem with braking, as there is considerably less contact between the wheels and the surface. Furthermore, although this is just speculation on my behalf, I feel that fishtailing would be a problem, as the wheels (unlike cylindrical wheels) do not favour forward movement above the other axes. (And oversteer/understeer would probably be a problem too). Overall, without being an engineer or anything, I feel like ball wheels are definitely more suited for slower vehicles, where maneuverability is more important than handling and braking is not a major concern, like utility robots
Please make a video on CAD models, (Fusion) it would be great for us!
yeah or a 2nd channel, like James Bruton too/2, for cad designing process of the projects on the main channel
Wow that is so smart!
Hopefully this can be a template for future omni wheels. Or even better be the one that gets commercialized!
Stumbled onto this channel last night while rather stoned. I’ve got limited engineering experience and sometimes it sounds like your speaking a foreign language, despite that I am absolutely fascinated with your machines and I feel like I’m slowly learning things i never thought possible.
trust me james . i get inspired by your video and i get so much educational stuff! im a 12 year old kid
I said the other day it was a spherical ball when you shown us the image! (Disclaimer: My comment may not be 100% accurate)
Definitely wondering how you would control this. can't wait to see more!
You only have to wait until Tuesday!
@@jamesbruton Or become a patreon ;)
Cant wait to see the motorized version of these wheels!
I can't speak for ball shaped wheels, but one of the biggest problems with omni or mecanum wheels is that you lose a lot of traction and can get pushed around easily, so if a car is going around a curve at speed, they will lose control much more easily than if they had used normal wheels.
I heard about this, when does the Omni-wheel start beating its son?
Well have you seen it murder the guardians of the globe yet.
That omni wheel triangle looks like it would make an awesome chair base.
You are the best, thanks for another great video
Finally, parallel parking made easier!
how does this only have 3k views
It went out less than an hour ago, also the publicly viewable view count isn't up to date.
@@jamesbruton ah hadn't realised it was a recent video lmao
a ball bearing would have been a much simpler fix to put on the top of each half sphere but the way you engineered it is very amazing!
That's a great design 😁👍 very exciting 👏👏👏
Would be interesting to put designs on high speed rc bots and check where the wear occurs.
thats where im concerned, with circular wheels, how do you maintain even wear and then grip on the entire tyre?
That movements messing with my head...😅
Saw this concept in I, Robot. I was so amazed.
You are reinventing the wheel dude.
A note on the intro: magnetic braking is super-effective. It's how they stop roller coasters safely.
Well ... it isn't effective, if electricity gets cut off, for some reason.
@@ZappyOh Maybe you can build such a system to 'fail closed' and magnetically brake if the power cuts out, since with a permanent magnet involved at least, magnetic braking is a thing that just happens (try dropping a magnet down a copper tube!) and doesn't require outside power input.
The wheels are attached to the roller coaster though
@@ZappyOh Then just don't turn the car off on an incline! Gosh! Design is just so much easier if customers just don't do what they're reasonably expected to do.
@@jamesbruton the braking force is independent of the wheels. When you pass a magnet over a non-ferrous metal, aluminum in this case, you get magnetic eddy currents which provide not only a powerful stopping force, but a self-regulating and cost-effective one as well. No parts to wear out because theres no contact being made in the braking system.
I'm interested to know if these can be used in motorcycles too in the future...
Just a guess but I think it would not work well, if you ever rode a motorcycle, you would know at one point when you reach a certain speed you turn the opposite direction to steer, I am guessing the forces would naturally want to start pushing the bike sideways. I could be wrong mind you.
@@patprop74 yes precisely, the counter steering part is what I was thinking about...the forces that make the bike inherently upright after leaning would be messed up, the ball shaped wheels is not designed for a leaning turn. I guess then every bike will have a drift like motion while cornering 😅
@@arnabdas3172 Imagine the nightmare of zooming around at 100mph, and the bike suddenly starts spinning around from front to back HAHAHA one would need one of James gyro installed in it lol
Keep up the great work!
Thank you for determining exactly how my next shopvac bot will glide across the floor ;)
Wouldn't ball-bearings work better than the small wheels?
I think that would make it difficult to motorize the wheel.
@@JohnDlugosz also, traction would be...poor.
@@martindinner3621 Not really any worse than the wheels though; And you don't really need traction on that point, you just need to get off of it quickly and back to the "tread", right?
@@praticle you've just hit on the problem. If you don't have friction, in an unpowered system you would get stuck on the bearing.
@@martindinner3621 True! What if you rubberized the ball and fixed in place? So instead of being a seperate entity to battle against it would just be another piece of the tread? I just feel like there is a better option than the wheels! 😅
I Robot.
Can't wait to see the motorised edition !
Next week!
The retaining clip binding onto the table is actually a very good representation of reality because tires need to be not only inflated to a point of being rigid but also sticky, which the binding clip demonstrates (if only even a little)
I had been thinking about these wheels recently too. 👍🙂👍
All of these little experiments with robotics are a great way to inspire people. Like what if you created this wheel but combined with an omni wheel, and have a ball bearing or some kind of roller ball instead of a wheel at the poles of the wheel.
I actually had this concept in my head back in middle school, too bad i didn't offer it up back then!
Nice work! reminds me how the softbank pepper robot moves. but softbank/aldebaran robotics tilted both half spheres a little bit to close the gap between them.
Can you give a link to how that works? I could'nt find it.
@@coderentity2079 sure: asia.nikkei.com/Business/Biotechnology/Peering-inside-Pepper
in my opinion one of the most practical omni drives (patented) ever made for a robot. drives really smoothly! Here is an image of the omnidirectional spherical wheel: l-w-i.net/img/snap_arduinofun_mm26_09.jpg
@@Schnurpselhasen The slight hemsphere tilt does makes the gap way smaller indeed, great idea! Not for offroading though. I'll look for more details on that patent.
Neat! I'm curious to see how a motorized version of these wheels would work.
Next week!
Thanks, I'll wait for the next video))
How did you even get all of that printed so quickly?!
This is an excellent take on the design. Really though, a lot of these advanced wheel concepts only work in low speed applications.
Those would make amazing front wheels for a shopping cart/trolley/buggy/🛒
I built a sphero car which can do this as well. This is also possible with superconductors and locking a magnet within the wheel.
Very nice design and well presented. Thank you for sharing. In my opinion the wheels era has to come to an end. I have been working on levitation type design. I have some success and still spending little time in my lab to further power enhancement. Little success but it is moving in good direction. You can imagine what would be the world like if we get rid of wheels and aerodynamic technology. I am doing my part, a very small contribution but it is in process. Anyway, thank you for your wonderful design. It is sensational to think about cars moving on a ball-wheels.
first video of yours i have watched you have won a sub
You'd need some weird power delivery or some kind of crazy transmission to keep power uniform as the part the touches the ground changes. Neat idea!
Check out part 2, only the main axle is powered
When a concept technology provokes a deep gut laugh it may just be worth looking into XD
Reinventing the wheel, i love it
Seems like a lot more parts to manufacture and assemble than a modern wheel, as well as being excessively complex for something like a modern automobile - which is plenty complex as-is. Great video exploring the concept :)
Ooh cool I learned about these years ago but never saw any follow-up content
This was quite nice, but you teased us with the dream car with magnet driven spheres.
That's what we'd like to see next. A 3/4 size model should do nicely. ;)
You’ve solved the problem of the crappy casters on office chairs!
3:00 you could use a captive ball bearring instead, its like a wheel that can rotate in any direction
Awesome Video Man
Back in the '70s a former NASA engineer designed a vehicle based on chapter 1 of Ezekiel -- presented in his thin paperback THE SPACESHIPS OF EZEKIEL -- and the 4 wheels-within-wheels that supported it remind me of this design somewhat. Cool stuff!
Cool!, omniwheel and omnitrack are the work of my friend and colleague Kenjiro Tadakuma (now in Tohoku University).
Looks good well done. On a 4 wheel robot i could see an issue if you stopped on the "little wheel" amd wanted to move off at 90 degrees as in the car parking demo at the start. I guess that would have to have a little radius on the turn baked in to the controller.
Cool video man very informative. Got the sub from me!
Looking very sound 👍
This looks amazing for a work stool or chair.
Wonder if flextures or spring could be built in to give the wheel some suspension as I would imagine the wheels would ride rough on a road compared to the conventional tire.
Can't wait to see it with motors
Great video, sir! Is there any chance you could build the original concept, a magnetically levitating ball wheel?