No abstract

Due to the importance of the workspace and stability in mobile robot dynamic control, a variety of workspace and stability criteria exist in the field of multi-legged and wheeled robotics. This paper presents a methodology for determining the stable workspace, the subspace of the workspace for which the system is considered stable. The presented derivation utilizes the normal foot force distribution of the system to determine stability and integrates the stability into the lateral workspace of a mobile machining hexapod robot. The analytical inequalities governing the boundary of the stable workspace are derived. A discussion on the effects of physical and geometrical characteristics of the hexapod robot on the stable workspace methodology is given. The stable workspace methodology is validated through a simulation and an application to mobile machining is presented.