Performance comparison of rough‐terrain robots—simulation and hardware

Thueer, Thomas; Krebs, Ambroise; Siegwart, Roland; Lamon, Pierre

doi:10.1002/rob.20185

Cited by 55 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In the context of a pre-study for the European Space Agency (ESA) project Exomars [9], the development of a new robotic platform called CRAB [10], depicted in Fig. 1, offered a new opportunity to pursue the idea of implementing and testing this controller.…”

Section: B Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rover control based on an optimal torque distribution - Application to 6 motorized wheels passive rover

Krebs¹,

Risch²,

Thueer³

et al. 2010

2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

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Abstract-The capability to overcome terrain irregularities or obstacles, named terrainability, is mostly dependant on the suspension mechanism of the rover and its control. For a given wheeled robot, the terrainability can be improved by using a sophisticated control, and is somewhat related to minimizing wheel slip. The proposed control method, named torque control, improves the rover terrainability by taking into account the whole mechanical structure. The rover model is based on the Newton-Euler equations and knowing the complete state of the mechanical structures allows us to compute the force distribution in the structure, and especially between the wheels and the ground. Thus, a set of torques maximizing the traction can be used to drive the rover. The torque control algorithm is presented in this paper, as well as tests showing its impact and improvement in terms of terrainability. Using the CRAB rover platform, we show that the torque control not only increases the climbing performance but also limits odometric errors and reduces the overall power consumption.

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Section: B Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rover control based on an optimal torque distribution - Application to 6 motorized wheels passive rover

Krebs¹,

Risch²,

Thueer³

et al. 2010

2010 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

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show abstract

“…30 Quasi-static force analysis at selected configurations over the obstacles was used in the analysis and the optimization procedure. The objective function was evaluated via the minimum coefficient of friction 31 required to surpass a given obstacle. These kinematic profiles (optimized through static analysis) were then simulated via M3TK to benchmark success on the three obstacles.…”

Section: Designing Through Obstacle Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design optimization of a lightweight rocker–bogie rover for ocean worlds applications

Nayar

Kim

Chamberlain-Simon

et al. 2019

International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems

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Relatively recent discoveries have shown that large quantities of water can be found on moons of some of the planets among the gas giants in our solar system. Robotic mobility systems can study the varied geology and origins of these bodies if they are able to navigate the complex terrains of ocean worlds. The topographical features of ocean worlds present a unique combination of challenges for mobility. These include cryogenic ice, penitentes, salt evaporites, chaotic regions, and regolith with uncertain shear and sinkage properties. Uncertainty in both terrain properties and geometry motivates design of a platform that is mobile within a large range of obstacle geometries and terrain properties. This article reports on a research effort to study the requirements and numerically optimize the kinematic parameters of the rover to satisfy these goals. The platforms selected in the process were further verified via simulation. A simulation and analysis of grousers generated suitable designs for interaction with similar ledges and rough terrain. From this analysis, a prototype was developed and tested to meet the wide range of topography and terramechanics conditions expected on these bodies.

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“…On the other hand, wheeled robots using passive suspensions with large displacement, such ones encountered in planetary exploration [6], offer a native posture adjustment that improves the wheels' pressure distribution on soil [7] and helps to cross over obstacles with particular shape thanks to the suspension kinematics [8]. However, these systems are not able to react to some discontinuities in ground profile by for example adapting the wheel-soil contact forces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motion control of a compliant wheel-leg robot for rough terrain crossing

Bouton

Grand

Benamar

2016

2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

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In this paper, we propose the use of compliant elements in the actuation of a wheel-legged robot in order to improve its locomotion properties on unknown and irregular terrains. Detection of the obstacles is achieved by a synergistic use of the structural compliances. The robot's capabilities to surmount steep obstacles is thus improved thanks to the inertia of the chassis and flexibility in postural control. In the proposed robot's kinematics, the four wheels are attached to the main body through vertical series elastic actuators (SEA) and with a passive horizontal compliant mechanism subject to a specific wheel speed control. The overall control relies on postural servoing and a local reactive loop which adapts the vertical forces applied by the SEA on each wheel according to the detected obstacle and the stability margin. The resulting system is evaluated with physical simulations for two case studies : a canonical steep obstacle on one wheel at a time and multiple random rough terrains.

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Performance comparison of rough‐terrain robots—simulation and hardware

Abstract: The design of a rover for a specific environment is a complex procedure which requires modeling a chassis and evaluating it with specific criteria. This is the aim of the Performance Optimization Tool (POT)

Cited by 55 publications

References 12 publications

Rover control based on an optimal torque distribution - Application to 6 motorized wheels passive rover

Rover control based on an optimal torque distribution - Application to 6 motorized wheels passive rover

Design optimization of a lightweight rocker–bogie rover for ocean worlds applications

Motion control of a compliant wheel-leg robot for rough terrain crossing

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