I think I feel another exclamation mark coming on.

Staring at the container-handling equipment at Schipol last week reminded me to dig up some information I’d promised to a friend, concerning some moderately cool wheels which can move sideways, rotate on the spot, and so forth. Rather than trying to explain the concept, it’s probably easier to read this, or search for ‘holonomic’ or ‘Mecanum‘ on Google or YouTube and you’ll find lots of interesting hits, especially the guys who built such systems using LEGO Mindstorns. These guys have the US patent rights to the Mecanum design, and some good videos of their production vehicles, which apparently the US navy find handy for movings heavy equipment around their aircraft carriers.