Design and Modelling of Omnibola, A Spherical Mobile Robot

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. A spherical mobile robot called Omnibola © is introduced and analyzed in this article. Some advantages of this kind of robot compared with typical wheeled robots are described. Its geometry and its features are presented, emphasizing on those which make it different from other ball-shaped robots. A mathematical model has been developed to have a tool to study our robot dynamics. We conducted some experiments to confirm that model results are similar to experimental results observed in the real robot. Either in experiments or in simulations, the robot's behavior is quite oscillatory. Because of this, a simple control law is proposed to stabilize that oscillatory motion.