Abstract

The demand of mobile platforms for the motion in a constrained spaces in complex environments or personal high-maneuverability robots for disabled persons has led to the invention of new types of wheels. Beginning from the first patent received by Grabowezky in USA in 1919, engineers started developing wheels that could move not only in their own plane but, for example, perpendicularly to this plane. A key issue for the effective usage of these wheels and for the optimal control of the entire mobile system is the understanding of the physical interaction between the wheels and the environment.