2P1-S-020 Development of Omni-Directional Mobile Robot with Step-Climbing Ability : 9th Report: Wheel Control Reference Derivation Method for Step-Climbing(Mobile Robot 4,Mega-Integration in Robotics and Mechatronics to Assist Our Daily Lives)

In this paper, we purpose a new holonomic omnidirectional mobile robot that can pass over steps and rough terrain. A prototype of the omnidirectional mobile robot has seven wheels with free rollers. We adopt a passive suspension for the robot to climb slopes and to pass over steps without actuators and sensors for climbing and analyzed the kinematics of the omnidirectional robot. The performance of the prototype robot is shown through experiments.

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Development of Omni-Directional Mobile Robot with Step-Climbing Ability (5th Report)

The Proceedings of JSME annual Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics (Robomec) ◽

10.1299/jsmermd.2003.7_5 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 2003 (0) ◽

pp. 7

Author(s):

D. Chugo ◽

H. Asama ◽

H. Kaetsu ◽

K. Kawabata ◽

T. Mishima

Keyword(s):

Mobile Robot ◽

Climbing Ability ◽

Step Climbing

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Improving Mobile Robot Step-Climbing Capabilities With Center-of-Gravity Control

Volume 2: 34th Annual Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, Parts A and B ◽

10.1115/detc2010-28482 ◽

2010 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Krzysztof Skonieczny ◽

Gabriele M. T. D’Eleuterio

Keyword(s):

Mobile Robot ◽

Control Algorithm ◽

Degrees Of Freedom ◽

Contact Angles ◽

Center Of Gravity ◽

Sand Trap ◽

Climbing Ability ◽

Reduced Mobility ◽

Step Climbing ◽

Robot Platform

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit will henceforth be a stationary science platform, as its current mobility capabilities have been unable to free it from a sand trap for several months. Mobility systems of future planetary exploration robots will need to reduce risk of entrapment, access more challenging terrain, and cover more ground than ever before. This work presents a novel center-of-gravity (CoG) control algorithm, designed to increase rover mobility over step obstacles. The control algorithm is applied to a mobile robot platform featuring a reconfigurable chassis / suspension system. The 6-wheeled platform is equipped with active wheel-walking degrees of freedom in addition to driving, steering, and passive suspension DoFs typical for such robots. The controller is based on a new concept introduced here, the Contact-Angle Adjusted Support Plane, and uses wheel-ground contact angles to place the CoG such that weight acting on wheels encountering difficult local terrain is reduced. Mobility analysis, using the detailed multibody dynamics simulator RCAST (Rover Chassis Analysis and Simulation Tool), shows that the control algorithm dramatically improves step-climbing ability. The CoG controller can increase the height of obstacle surmountable by a factor of 2 to 3. Wheel-step interaction modes, joint angle limits for wheel-walking DoFs, and other practical mechanical considerations are discussed in the context of a hardware prototype of the studied chassis design.

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