Autototes Self Turning Wheel - apps4work/co.a4w GitHub Wiki

This is a proof of concept that a drive wheel can be used to turn the steering (specifically between straight and 90 degrees, but the same concept can be used for other degrees of turn.

The drive wheel (on the right) is mounted on forks like a bicycle front wheel. It has a rod along a radius which in normal driving would run free of the axle/wheel (and therefore not turn) but can be locked to the drive wheel by a solenoid. In the POC the rod is modelled by flat iron and the solenoid is modelled by a screw.

When the drive wheel is drive forward with the rod locked the end of the rod is forced against a runner (Alumium strip held on with Duct Tape) which is shaped so that the rod is pushed outwards and that turns the wheel around in the forks.

The POC does not handle the full 90 degrees because the runner isn't formed quite well enough, but the concept is proven.

For the concept to work in the opposite direct there has to be a runner on the other side of the rod. So a real implementation would probably be a rod (rather than a flat) running in a slot in the runner. The shape of the slot in the runner is the locus of the end of the rod when the wheel and the required steering are moved as required, but without the runner. The locus is the yellow line in the diagram below.

and can be seen here: https://youtu.be/zc8b2Jo7mno?t=174