This car uses Liddiard wheels developed by a Canadian inventor William Liddiard. Liddiard filed a patent on this technology. The patent reveals how these awesome wheels work.
The wheel includes specially designed rim and tyre. The rim plates include free spin rollers mounted around the periphery of the rim plate. Motorized spin rollers are installed on the rim hub. When activated, these motorized spin rollers rotate the tyre horizontally. The tyre includes a central torus shaped member, which carries multiple rollers. The rubber tyre is mounted over the rollers.
The free spin rollers also rotate along with the tyre and provide support to the tyre. When all tyres rotate in the same direction, the car moves sideways. When diagonally opposite tyres move in opposite directions, the car rotates around its axis. This provides exceptional mobility in tight spaces. A single Liddiard wheel has two such units.
There are other omni-directional wheels available in the market like mecanum wheels. There is a huge excitement in the market about omni-directional wheels. In fact, US Navy bought the rights to the patent on mecanum wheels.
Most likely, William Liddiard will earns millions from this technology.
What is more fascinating about the invention is that unlike other omnidirectional wheels, this design doesn’t require any extra modifications to the car. They simply bolt on, as Liddiard says, and they’re ready to use. They’re also designed to be functional in “all weather and road” conditions, and have the “same build characteristics” as regular tires — i.e. a standard rubber composition and functional treads.
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