Book a Consultation
DIY-Mecanum-Wheels-Robot
DIY-Mecanum-Wheels-Robot

How to make mecanum wheels using Arduino

Building an Arduino Mecanum Wheel Robot

Hey makers! Have you ever built a basic robot car and wished it could do something cooler than just moving forward and backward?

How about a robot that can move sideways, diagonally, or spin around in place? That’s exactly what Mecanum wheels let your robot do! These special wheels have small angled rollers that allow your robot to move smoothly in any direction, not just straight. Pretty awesome, right?

Unlike regular wheels, Mecanum wheels have rollers set at a 45-degree angle around their rim, enabling omnidirectional movement. This means your robot isn’t limited to just straight paths—it can navigate tight spaces, drift sideways effortlessly, and offer a completely new level of control and fun!

Today, I’ll guide you through building your own Arduino-powered Mecanum wheels robot. Ready to explore the exciting world of omnidirectional robotics? Let’s dive in.

What Makes Mecanum Wheels So Cool?

Mecanum wheels aren’t like regular wheels. Instead of just rolling forward or backward, each Mecanum wheel has a bunch of angled rollers set at 45 degrees around the rim. This setup allows for some wild motion:

  • Move forward/backward
  • Slide sideways
  • Drift diagonally
  • Rotate on the spot
Image Credit: Wikipedia

These wheels were invented way back in 1973 by a Swedish engineer named Bengt Ilon, and they’ve become popular in robotics competitions, warehouse robots, and places where tight maneuvering is a must.

Mecanum wheel (Wikipedia)

Parts You’ll Need

Here’s your quick shopping list:

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support this blog and keeps the projects coming—thanks for your support!

Before jumping into the build process, make sure you have all the required components, such as the metal chassis, Mecanum wheels, L293D motor driver, and other items listed above.

Now let’s get building!

Mecanum wheel

Step-by-Step Building Guide

Step 1: Preparing the Motors

First things first—let’s solder wires to all four motors.
If you got motors that already come pre-wired, feel free to skip this step. But if not—or if you haven’t picked up a soldering iron yet—it might be time to grab one. Trust me, it’s a solid investment if you’re into DIY stuff.

Personally, I’m using the Hakko 936 right now and it’s been doing a great job. If you’re looking for something similar, I’ll drop an Amazon link with a few good options I’d recommend.

When soldering, don’t worry too much about the motor polarity just yet. Just solder two wires to each motor. If one spins the wrong way later, you can simply swap the wires around. Easy fix!

Step 2: Mount Motors to the Chassis

Next up, let’s install the four motors onto the chassis using eight M3x45 screws. It’s a pretty simple step—just align everything properly, slide in the bolts and nuts, and tighten them up. If you’ve got a power screwdriver, this is where it shines (your wrists will thank you). But don’t worry if you’re doing it by hand—it works just fine too.

Once the motors are in place, go ahead and mount all four Mecanum wheels. Boom—your robot’s frame is officially coming together! It might not move yet, but it already looks like it’s ready to roll, right?

Using a power screwdriver can save your wrists a lot of pain.
I personally use this one → [link]

If you’re not sure how to position them correctly, just scroll back to the top of the page and check the reference image.

Step 3: Mounting the Arduino Board and L293D driver to the chassis.

Now it’s time to mount the Arduino board onto the chassis using four M3x10 female-to-female standoffs. This step is mostly for keeping things neat and organized—though if you’re in a rush, a bit of hot glue can do the trick too. Just tighten the standoffs with a screwdriver and you’re all set.

Once that’s done, go ahead and connect the motor driver directly to your Arduino Uno R3. It’s a really straightforward plug-in. And if you’re unsure about the setup, don’t worry—I’ve made a video walkthrough for this step, so feel free to check it out for a visual guide.

Step 4: Wiring the Circuit.

Now we’re moving on to wiring everything up—so pay extra attention here! Especially when it comes to power polarity. Mixing up VCC and GND is the fastest way to fry your board, and no one wants to order a new Arduino just because of one careless moment.

For the motors:

  • Connect the two left motors to M3 and M4
  • Connect the two right motors to M1 and M2

As I mentioned earlier, if the car moves in reverse, just swap the motor wires to fix the direction. Easy fix.

That wraps up the motor section—now let’s hook up the Bluetooth module (HC-05) to the Arduino Board.

The HC-05 is a Bluetooth module commonly used with Arduino for wireless communication. It allows your Arduino to communicate wirelessly with smartphones, computers, or other Bluetooth devices.

The HC-05 has four pins:

  • VCC – Connect to 5V on the Arduino. This is the power input.
  • GND – Connect to GND (0V). This completes the circuit.
  • TX (Transmit) – Connect to Pin 9 on the Arduino. This is the pin where the HC-05 sends data to the Arduino.
  • RX (Receive) – Connect to Pin 10 on the Arduino. This is where the HC-05 receives data from the Arduino.
Mecanum Wheels Circuit

⚠️ Important: The HC-05 uses 3.3V logic on RX, while Arduino pins are 5V. Some people risk it, some use a voltage divider—just know the risk and proceed accordingly

Power:

Carefully connect your Li-ion battery (between 7.4V and 12V) to the motor driver. Always double-check polarity:

  • Positive terminal → VCC
  • Negative terminal → GND

A reverse connection here could burn your driver or board, so take a minute to verify everything.

You can check the code and download the APK file here.

Step 5: Upload the code to Arduino!

Mecanum Wheels Robot Code Explaination

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <AFMotor.h>
SoftwareSerial Bluetooth(9, 10); // Arduino(RX, TX) - HC-05 Bluetooth (TX, RX)
AF_DCMotor motor(1, MOTOR12_64KHZ); 
AF_DCMotor motor1(2, MOTOR12_64KHZ); 
AF_DCMotor motor2(3, MOTOR12_64KHZ); 
AF_DCMotor motor3(4, MOTOR12_64KHZ);
int wheelSpeed=100;
int dataIn, m;
void setup() {
  
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Bluetooth.begin(9600); 
  Bluetooth.setTimeout(1);
  delay(20);
} 
void loop() {
  // Check for incoming data
  if (Bluetooth.available() > 0) {
    dataIn = Bluetooth.read();  // Read the data
    Serial.println(dataIn);
    if (dataIn == 0) {
      m = 0;
    }
    if (dataIn == 1) {
      m = 1;
    }
    if (dataIn == 2) {
      m = 2;
    }
    if (dataIn == 3) {
      m = 3;
    }
    if (dataIn == 4) {
      m = 4;
    }
    if (dataIn == 5) {
      m = 5;
    }
    if (dataIn == 6) {
      m = 6;
    }
    if (dataIn == 7) {
      m = 7;
    }
    if (dataIn == 8) {
      m = 8;
    }
    if (dataIn == 9) {
      m = 9;
    }
    if (dataIn == 10) {
      m = 10;
    }
    if (dataIn == 11) {
      m = 11;
    }
    if (dataIn == 12) {
      m = 12;
    }
    if (dataIn == 14) {
      m = 14;
    }
    // Set speed
    if (dataIn >= 16) {
      wheelSpeed = dataIn;
      Serial.println(wheelSpeed);
    }
  }
  if (m == 5) {
    moveSidewaysLeft();
  }
  if (m == 4) {
    moveSidewaysRight();
  }
  if (m == 2) {
    moveForward();
  }
  if (m == 7) {
    moveBackward();
  }
  if (m == 1) {
    moveRightForward();
  }
  if (m == 3) {
    moveLeftForward();
  }
  if (m == 6) {
    moveRightBackward();
  }
  if (m == 8) {
    moveLeftBackward();
  }
  if (m == 9) {
    rotateLeft();
  }
  if (m == 10) {
    rotateRight();
  }
  if (m == 0) {
    stopMoving();
  }
  //Serial.println(dataIn);
  // If button "SAVE" is pressed
  if (m == 12) {

  }
  

 
}

void moveForward() {

  motor.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor1.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor2.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor3.setSpeed(wheelSpeed);
  motor1.run(FORWARD);
   motor.run(FORWARD); 
   motor3.run(FORWARD);
 motor2.run(FORWARD);
}
void moveBackward() {

  motor.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor1.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor2.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor3.setSpeed(wheelSpeed);
  motor1.run(BACKWARD);
   motor.run(BACKWARD); 
   motor3.run(BACKWARD);
 motor2.run(BACKWARD);
}
void moveSidewaysRight() {

  motor.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor1.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor2.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor3.setSpeed(wheelSpeed);
  motor1.run(BACKWARD);
   motor.run(FORWARD); 
   motor3.run(BACKWARD);
 motor2.run(FORWARD);
}
void moveSidewaysLeft() {

  motor.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor1.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor2.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor3.setSpeed(wheelSpeed);
  motor1.run(FORWARD);
   motor.run(BACKWARD); 
   motor3.run(FORWARD);
 motor2.run(BACKWARD);
}
void rotateLeft() {

  motor.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor1.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor2.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor3.setSpeed(wheelSpeed);
motor1.run(FORWARD);
   motor.run(FORWARD); 
   motor3.run(BACKWARD);
 motor2.run(BACKWARD);
}
void rotateRight() {

  motor.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor1.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor2.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor3.setSpeed(wheelSpeed);
  motor1.run(BACKWARD);
   motor.run(BACKWARD); 
   motor3.run(FORWARD);
 motor2.run(FORWARD);
}
void moveRightForward() {

  motor.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor1.setSpeed(0); 
  motor2.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor3.setSpeed(0);
  motor3.run(RELEASE);
   motor1.run(RELEASE);
   motor.run(FORWARD); 
   motor2.run(FORWARD);
}
void moveRightBackward() {

  motor1.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor.setSpeed(0); 
  motor3.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor2.setSpeed(0);
  motor.run(RELEASE);
   motor2.run(RELEASE);
   motor1.run(BACKWARD); 
   motor3.run(BACKWARD);
   
}
void moveLeftForward() {

  motor.setSpeed(0); 
  motor1.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor2.setSpeed(0); 
  motor3.setSpeed(wheelSpeed);
  motor2.run(RELEASE);
   motor.run(RELEASE);
   motor1.run(FORWARD); 
   motor3.run(FORWARD);
}
void moveLeftBackward() {

  motor.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor1.setSpeed(0); 
  motor2.setSpeed(wheelSpeed); 
  motor3.setSpeed(0);
  motor3.run(RELEASE);
   motor1.run(RELEASE);
   motor.run(BACKWARD); 
   motor2.run(BACKWARD);
}
void stopMoving() {
  motor.run(RELEASE);
   motor1.run(RELEASE); 
   motor2.run(RELEASE);
   motor3.run(RELEASE);
   motor1.setSpeed(0);
   motor2.setSpeed(0);
   motor3.setSpeed(0);
   motor.setSpeed(0);
}

Libraries and Object Declarations

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
#include <Wire.h>
#include <AFMotor.h>
  • SoftwareSerial.h: Allows you to create a software-based serial port (for Bluetooth communication).
  • Wire.h: Enables I2C communication (not used directly here, may be from a library dependency).
  • AFMotor.h: Part of Adafruit Motor Shield library, used to control DC motors easily.
SoftwareSerial Bluetooth(9, 10); // (RX, TX)
  • Sets up software serial communication on pins 9 (RX) and 10 (TX) to talk with the HC-05 Bluetooth module.
AF_DCMotor motor(1, MOTOR12_64KHZ); 
AF_DCMotor motor1(2, MOTOR12_64KHZ); 
AF_DCMotor motor2(3, MOTOR12_64KHZ); 
AF_DCMotor motor3(4, MOTOR12_64KHZ);
  • Creates 4 motor objects using Adafruit Motor Shield channels M1 to M4.
  • The MOTOR12_64KHZ sets the PWM frequency.

Global Variables

int wheelSpeed = 100;
int dataIn, m;
  • wheelSpeed: Speed value (0–255) for all motors.
  • dataIn: Stores the latest value received via Bluetooth.
  • m: Represents the current movement mode based on dataIn.

Setup Function

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Bluetooth.begin(9600); 
  Bluetooth.setTimeout(1);
  delay(20);
}
  • Initializes Serial and Bluetooth communication at 9600 baud rate.
  • Optional: The setTimeout(1) defines how long to wait for serial data.

Loop Function (Core Logic)

if (Bluetooth.available() > 0) {
  dataIn = Bluetooth.read();  // Read data from phone/app
  Serial.println(dataIn);
  • Checks if data is available from Bluetooth.
  • Stores the incoming value into dataIn.
// Assigns received value to m (movement mode)
if (dataIn == 0) m = 0;
if (dataIn == 1) m = 1;
...
if (dataIn == 14) m = 14;
  • Maps specific numbers received via Bluetooth to a movement action (m).
if (dataIn >= 16) {
  wheelSpeed = dataIn;
  Serial.println(wheelSpeed);
}
  • If data received is 16 or above, it’s treated as a speed value.

Movement Selector

if (m == 5) moveSidewaysLeft();
if (m == 4) moveSidewaysRight();
if (m == 2) moveForward();
...
if (m == 10) rotateRight();
if (m == 0) stopMoving();
  • Based on m, the robot executes a specific movement function.

Movement Functions Explained

All movement functions follow this pattern:

  1. Set speed for each motor
  2. Set direction (FORWARD, BACKWARD, or RELEASE)

Move Forward

void moveForward() {
  set all motors to `wheelSpeed` and `FORWARD`
}

Move Backward

void moveBackward() {
  set all motors to `wheelSpeed` and `BACKWARD`
}

Move Sideways Right

void moveSidewaysRight() {
  motors 1 and 3: BACKWARD  
  motors 2 and 4: FORWARD  
  → This creates a right slide motion
}

Move Sideways Left

void moveSidewaysLeft() {
  motors 1 and 3: FORWARD  
  motors 2 and 4: BACKWARD  
  → This creates a left slide motion
}

Rotate Left / Right

// rotateLeft():
motors 1 and 2: FORWARD  
motors 3 and 4: BACKWARD

// rotateRight():
motors 1 and 2: BACKWARD  
motors 3 and 4: FORWARD

→ Creates a spin movement around the robot’s center

Diagonal / Mixed Movement

// moveRightForward():
Only motors 1 and 3 are OFF
motors 2 and 4 run FORWARD

// moveLeftForward():
Only motors 2 and 4 are ON (FORWARD)

→ Creates diagonal movement by controlling motor pairs

Stop the Robot

void stopMoving() {
  all motors set to RELEASE  
  all speeds set to 0
}

Extras

if (m == 12) {
  // Reserved for SAVE function (not implemented yet)
}

Troubleshooting Tips

ProblemSolution
Robot not moving at allCheck battery and power wires
Motors spinning but wrong directionReverse motor wires
Robot drifts or moves oddlyCheck wheel orientation
Bluetooth not pairingRecheck TX/RX pins and baud rate

Final Thoughts

Boom! You’ve just built your own Arduino-powered Mecanum robot. Whether you’re doing this for fun, a school project, or a robotics competition, this is a great hands-on way to level up your maker skills.

Next steps you can try:

  • Add a joystick or phone app control
  • Integrate ultrasonic sensors for obstacle avoidance
  • Add NeoPixel lights for style

Thanks for reading, and happy building! If you made it this far, you’re already ahead of most hobbyists. Keep experimenting—and don’t forget to share your robot with the world.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts