Advanced Omni-Directional Mobility System for Human-Friendly Industrial Warehouse Operations

A mobility platform has been widely used in many applications due to its load and transportation capacity. Movement capability, position estimation, and human interaction functions are essential in the mobility platform. This paper proposes a mobility platform for intelligent factories or parcel distribution warehouses. In the mobility platform, a novel power train structure with a drive-suspension integrated module is proposed to improve the load capacity and drive in arbitrary direction movement. Consequently, the mobility platform can be modified to treat the various sizes of load objects. Moreover, the paper presents the sensor fusion algorithm that uses a Kalman filter and low-cost sensors to estimate the position of the mobility platform. Additionally, user-friendly motion to intuitively maneuver the mobility system is a key feature compared to conventional mobility platforms. The usability and effectiveness of the system were validated through worker scenario-based experiments, demonstrating its suitability for tasks such as installation and maintenance in real-world applications. Several experimental results verify the proposed algorithms, including position control along a given path, position measurement, and hand maneuvering tests.