Mecanum wheel

A Mecanum wheel is an omnidirectional wheel design for a land-based <a href="/facts/Vehicle/jSIEqANL">vehicle</a> to move in any direction. It is sometimes called the Swedish wheel or Ilon wheel after its inventor, Bengt Erland Ilon (1923–2008), who conceived of the concept while working as an <a href="/facts/Engineer/ph4TnHnG">engineer</a> with the <a href="/facts/Sweden/u3qC7lyj">Swedish</a> company Mecanum AB, and <a href="/facts/Patented/LjT2bG3A">patented</a> it in the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> on November 13, 1972.
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 <a href="/facts/Forklift/CJ56KPwX">forklifts</a> which require very tight maneuvering, autonomous robots, and <a href="/facts/Wheelchair/C9e8o0xT">wheelchairs</a>.

Mecanum wheel open-in-new

Mecanum wheel