Design of A Propulsion Cycle for Endless Sliding on Frictional Ground Using Rotating Masses

Abstract

This paper proposes a propulsion cycle to enable an object to perform slow unidirectional sliding on the horizontal ground when an inertial drive, made of contra-rotating eccentric masses, is attached to it. Two masses are driven by one or two synchronized motors, which rotate at a variable angular velocity according to a predefined function with a period of 360 degrees. The aforementioned predefined law of rotation constitutes the proposed propulsion cycle, which when repeatedly followed, allows for an endless forward sliding of the object. It was found that the maximum static friction between the object and the ground is the key factor that offers repeated support for the object to develop linear momentum in the beginning of every new cycle. The simulation is based on closed form analytical solutions of the ordinary differential equations for the unidirectional motion of the object to which the rotating masses are attached.

Inertial Propulsion Devices: A Review

“…In the first case, when a floating object reaches the longest position where the center of mass obtains a zero velocity, the surrounding water can probably somehow work to offer instantaneous artificial fixation (support), making it possible for the rotating bars to be almost vertical compared to the desired direction of motion at the time of the second departure. In the second case, regarding motion on frictional ground, using a Dean drive, limited [110] or unlimited [109] motion is possible. Moreover, a MSc thesis in Sweden [184] and a Ph.D. thesis at Cornell University [185] have independently proposed gyroscopic drives of cubic shape to be used as Mars rovers [186][187][188].…”

“…Later, the concept of Dean drive (although not clearly mentioned therein) was applied to the modeling and control of micro-robotic systems by Vartholomeos and Papadopoulos [107,108]. Quite independently, the theoretical capability of the Dean drive to perform the motion of a vehicle was further elucidated by Provatidis [109,110] and a particular study for an alternative figure-eight shaped drive, controlling the orientation of the unidirectional motion, was reported in [111]. Also, a state-of-the-art report up to 2011, including more propulsive methods than those by inertial drives, is [112,113].…”

Design and analysis of a novel micro-robot driving platform

“…The former usually uses elastic brush structures, 7–10 which increase the difficulty of the motion modeling and control. In order to achieve two-dimensional motion, the latter usually needs two or more motors, 11–21 which limits the further simplification of the whole device structure. Moreover, additional software control algorithm is usually required to realize the coordination control of the motors; this increases the complexity of the program and the difficulty of the control of the rotation speed of motors.…”

Multi-criteria Identification of VibroBot Dynamic Characteristics

“…In the modern self-propelled mobile systems a valuable class of mechanical systems with inertial propulsion oriented towards non-traditional applications is emerged [1], [2]. The mobile robots with vibration propulsion known as Vibrobots are objects of great interest inspired by their advantages when operating at unusual conditions, the necessity of being miniature, to comply with the ecology requirements and to be energy efficient [3], [4], [5]. Their distinguished features are that they operate in the vicinity of the main resonance and dynamic nonlinearity, which makes their studies challenging.…”