Introduction
These 48mm Rotacaster wheels have eight polyurethane rollers that allow them to freely roll sideways as well as roll forward or backward like a normal wheel. This special wheel has several possible applications on robots.
As a caster wheel:
As the name implies, it can be used like a caster wheel. Unlike a traditional caster that has to be mounted on a vertical axis to allow turning, the Rotacaster wheel can simply be mounted like a regular wheel. Not only is this much easier to build with, it also makes your robot more accurate since the wheel does not interfere with robot driving and turning.
Here is the HiTechnic Trike modified to use the Rotacaster wheel instead of the regular caster wheel:
Use on a Holonomic Driving Base
A holonomic robot is a robot that can drive in any direction independent of the direction it is facing and can even turn while driving. These robots, sometimes called OmniBots, are usually built using three wheels with each wheel mounted 120 degrees from the others. Here is the HiTechnic RotaBot:
This robot can be built using a standard LEGO Mindstorms 2.0 set plus three Rotacaster wheels. Building instructions will be available soon on the HiTechnic Models page.
Downloads
| Description | Version | Release Date | Size | ||
 | HiTechnic RotaBot NXT-G Programs for LMS 2.0 | 1.0 | November 21st, 2011 | 3.12 MB | Download Now |
| Description | Version | Release Date | Size | ||
 | HiTechnic RotaBot, a Holonomic RotaCaster Robot | 1.0 | November 21st, 2011 | 5.00 MB | Download Now |
| Description | Version | Release Date | Size | ||
| LDraw Parts Pack for Rotacaster wheels | 1.0 | December 6th, 2011 | 10.28 KB | Download Now |
