Patent ID: 8485938

Claim:
An omni-wheel based driving mechanism, comprising: a spherical wheel having a spherical surface; a pair of first omni wheel assemblies being arranged at two sides of the spherical wheel to space from each other by a predetermined distance in a first direction; each of the first omni wheel assemblies including a main wheel and a plurality of guide rollers, the main wheel having an axial direction normal to the first direction, and at least one of the guide rollers on the first omni wheel assemblies being pressed against the spherical surface of the spherical wheel, so that the spherical wheel is rollably positioned between the pair of first omni wheel assemblies; and a pair of second omni wheel assemblies being arranged at another two sides of the spherical wheel to space from each other by a predetermined distance in a second direction; each of the second omni wheel assemblies including a main wheel and a plurality of guide rollers, the main wheel having an axial direction normal to the second direction, and at least one of the guide rollers on the second omni wheel assemblies being pressed against the spherical surface of the spherical wheel, so that the spherical wheel is rollably positioned between the pair of second omni wheel assemblies; whereby when the pair of first omni wheel assemblies or the pair of second omni wheel assemblies are rotated, the guide rollers mounted thereon sequentially contact with the spherical surface of the spherical wheel to thereby bring the spherical wheel to roll in the first or the second direction, respectively; wherein a driving belt is wound around the main wheel of each of the first omni wheel assemblies, and the guide rollers on each of the first omni wheel assemblies are rotatably mounted on and spaced along the driving belt; whereby when each of the first omni wheel assemblies is driven to rotate, the main wheel brings the driving belt to move, so that the guide rollers rotatably mounted on the driving belt sequentially contact with the spherical surface of the spherical wheel, bringing the spherical wheel to roll.