The development of the universal wheel and the application of art

The concept of the gimbal dates back to the early 19th century, when an Englishman named Francis Westley invented a “gimbal”, a ball made up of three spheres that could rotate freely in any direction. However, this design was not widely used because it was expensive to manufacture and the friction between the spheres made the movement less smooth.

It wasn’t until the early 20th century that an American inventor came up with a new design that consisted of four wheels, each with a small wheel perpendicular to the plane of the wheel, allowing the entire device to move in any direction. This design is known as the “Omni Wheel” and is one of the predecessors of the universal wheel.

In the 1950s, NASA engineer Harry Wickham invented an even better gimbaled wheel that consisted of three disks, each with a row of small wheels that allowed the entire device to move in any direction. This design became known as the “Wickham Wheel” and is the basis of the modern gimbal.

The Art of the Wickham Wheel

In addition to the industrial and robotics fields, gimbals have also been used by some artists for creative endeavors. For example, performance artist Ai Weiwei has used gimbals in his art installations. His work “Vanuatu gimbal” is a giant gimbal with a diameter of five meters, which allows the audience to move freely on it.