Re-Inventing the Wheel? Not a Bad Idea

This alternative wheel design may not look special at first glance, but after viewing the short video, you may change your mind.

Airtrax is a lift truck company that has taken a Swedish invention from the 1970s and is turning it into an industrial product that may become indispensible to high end warehousing operations. The ability to move in virtually any direction on a two dimensional surface sets this mechanism apart from other wheels.

The wheel has a long and illustrious history. The tracked design seen on earth movers and military tanks is an innovation that allowed greater terrain flexibility.

It is not likely that wheel design has been exhausted, and yet one of the most common put-downs is to accuse someone of "re-inventing the wheel." So do not be afraid of pursuing something that most people see no need for. Most people saw no need for an AC induction motor, before Tesla invented one. Most people--let us face it--are pretty slow to catch on. There are still a lot of good things to be discovered, invented, created, and written.