Moonwalking RC Cars

Yeah. Those are definitely Michael Jackson's robotic sons. Funny "moonwalking" came to your mind.
 
I have a feeling that there's a drawback to those kind of wheels. Less grip, less starting/stopping power and more inefficiency (bigger energy drain to go forward).
The bonus is pretty much shown in the video, more maneuverable.
 
Now if each roller had a clutch, and could be controlled independently via computer, you could eliminate those possible drawbacks.
 
Now if each roller had a clutch, and could be controlled independently via computer, you could eliminate those possible drawbacks.
Even with a clutch and controlled independently it wouldn't eliminate the drawbacks.
Basically you could do the same thing by having the wheels angled at 45 degrees.
So a car that had it's wheels like \-/ and the rears like /-\ would be able to operate in the same fashion.
If you rotate the front left wheel forward and at the same time rotate the back left wheel backwards, the force would be equaled out moving forward but because of the slant, the force would be directed straight left.
Unfortunately if you used a real car, there would be tremendous squealing from the tires because of obvious reasons. Those tires only have a fraction of the surface touching the ground thus meaning less traction.
 
More impressive with a full size vehicle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW3OBb_b89k

Yup.

airtrax.jpg
 
This types of wheels aren't meant for "speed". And trying to use them as such, like on an automobile, would be extremely dangerous. Auto tires are all about traction. Mecanum tires, by their design, simply lack the contiguous surface area of a tire.

They're a control surface.
 
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