I've been going through a thought experiment for a while of a new holonomic style.
In the classic kiwi setup, the front two omni wheels are angled inwards
like this with the goal of resolving movement vectors in x,y,ω. I have experience with this kind of robot but none with mechanum wheels. I think that mechanum wheels drive similarly to 4 wheel holonimic systems but will only move in the left in right directions if the forward component vectors are eliminated.
So the goal would be to replace the front two wheels in kiwi with forward facing mechanum wheels like so:
Here is my very poorly done vector diagrams of what I
think will happen. I do realize that the angle of the rollers on the mechanum wheels will change the component vectors and have to be addressed in chassis shape, but for now I'm only looking for feedback on the idea.