US Patent 10369839 Omnidirectional wheels and associated wheel guards

Technology is provided for omnidirectional wheels having rolling surfaces configured to roll over obstacles when the wheel is moving sideways with respect to its axis of rotation. The omnidirectional wheel can include a central disk assembly and a pair of lateral disk assemblies coaxially positioned on opposite sides of the central disk assembly. The central disk assembly can include a central carrier plate having a first diameter and a plurality of central rollers each rotatably coupled to a circumferential margin of the central carrier plate for rotation about a first roller axis oriented orthogonal to an axis of the wheel. Each lateral disk assembly can include a lateral carrier plate having a second diameter smaller than the first diameter and a plurality of lateral rollers each rotatably coupled to a circumferential margin of the lateral carrier plate for rotation about a second roller axis oriented orthogonal to the wheel axis.