Plowing for Rover Control on Extreme Slopes

Kohanbash, David; Moreland, Scott; Wettergreen, David

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-40686-7_27

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Draft forces in extraterrestrial regolith are discussed for example by Wilkinson and DeGennaro (2011), King et al (2011) and Vrettos (2012). Ziglar et al (2008) and Kohanbash et al (2014) explore the advantage of driving a circular rod vertically into the ground to exploit the subsurface soil strength in order to provide additional stability during turning maneuvers on a slope, and to create a braking force during descent. To the best of our knowledge, the idea to insert narrow retractable rods or tines into the ground in order to push or pull a vehicle forward by inching locomotion has not previously been studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UTOPUS Traction Technology: A new method for planetary exploration of steep and difficult terrain

Nannen¹,

Bover²,

Zöbel³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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After several successful missions to explore the surface of Mars with wheel-based rovers, the exploration of difficult and steep terrain has gained prominence in the field of planetary exploration, calling for new methods of vehicle locomotion which offer stability in steep and difficult terrain. UTOPUS traction technology offers a new method of locomotion which abandons the wheel paradigm for a two-phased anchoring and de-anchoring technique by driving removable crampons into the ground. In agriculture it minimizes soil compaction, reduces energy consumption, and produces a draft force similar to much heavier wheel-based tractors.Here we investigate whether the inherent stability of locomotion based on removable crampons allows exploration of steep and difficult terrain. We present experimental results from climbing and descending a mound of heterogeneous dust, sand, and granular material at the critical angle of repose, at an inclination of 25–40 degrees. The UTOPUS vehicle repeatedly climbed and descended the mound safely. An initial problem when reaching the top of the mound was solved by rebalancing the vehicle. Occasional failure occurred when the vehicle had strong lateral inclination, or on patches of very loose ground, suggesting the need for some design changes to the current model.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UTOPUS Traction Technology: A new method for planetary exploration of steep and difficult terrain

Nannen¹,

Bover²,

Zöbel³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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show abstract

“…Koyanagi et al proposed grasping a handrail while a humanoid robot walks on uneven terrain in order to increase the stability of bipedal motion [11]. Kohanbash et al proposed to use a plow when a tracked vehicle turned on a sandy ground [12]. In case of tracked vehicles for plant inspection, the outer force from the wall was useful for positioning.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wall Deadlock Evasion Control Based on Rotation Radius Adjustment

Kojima

Ohno

Suzuki

et al. 2020

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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This letter describes a wall deadlock evasion method for tracked vehicles. Wall deadlock is a phenomenon where the robot cannot rotate to the commanded direction when it collides with a wall, because the motion is restricted by the wall. The key idea behind solving this problem involves an adjustment of the rotation radius to generate sufficient rotational moment. There are several approaches to generate a rotational moment; however, no previous solution has been established to address this problem by adjusting the rotation radius based on the dynamics of wall deadlock. In this letter, the authors propose a new wall deadlock evasion method based on the sufficient rotation radius estimation. Experimental results show that the robot can generate rotational motion that satisfies conditions expected by the model. The wall deadlock evasion method is implemented and shows improved performance in terms of reproducibility of motion compared with the different approach proposed in our previous work. Wall deadlock evasion provides more choices of motion such as being as close to the obstacles as possible and ensures that the robot can continue locomotion after such motion. By handling wall deadlock, the robots can utilize surrounding walls for motion in situations such as relative positioning or driving in fixed lanes.

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“…Opportunity however, managed to recover from getting stuck in the Purgatory Dune in 2005 after 5 weeks of continuous effort [ 2 ]. Efforts to improve mobility on sandy slopes have been made [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], but traversing steep slopes with low levels of sinkage has proven to be difficult. In particular, no successful attempt has yet been recorded for traversing on sand surfaces inclined at the angle of repose (the maximum angle of the slope face created by a flowing granular material when it is piled onto itself before the material slides under its own weight; e.g., approximately 30 (29.71) degrees for Toyoura fine sand [ 10 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines

Ibrahim

Aoshima

Shiroma

et al. 2016

Sensors

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Typical rovers with wheels equipped with conventional grousers are prone to getting stuck in unconsolidated sandy dune inclines as the wheels tend to sink into the sand. This phenomenon is caused by the motion of the grouser through the sand during the latter half of the rotation, in which the grouser pushes the sand from underneath the wheel upwards and towards the backside of the wheel. This creates a space that the wheel can sink into. To minimize sand movement and subsequent sinkage, we propose the concept of using an “assistive grouser”, which is attached to the side of a conventional rover wheel. The assistive grouser is designed to be able to autonomously maintain a uniform angle relative to the rover body independent of the rotation of the wheels. Rotating the wheel causes the assistive grousers to automatically penetrate into the sand slope surface at a constant angle of attack, thereby acting as an anchor and providing traction for the wheel. Maintaining a uniform grouser angle as opposed to a rotating motion also assists in extracting the grouser out of the sand without moving the sand towards the back of the wheel. Moreover, the angle of the assistive grousers is held constantly by a single dedicated motor, meaning that the angle of the assistive grousers can be optimized to provide the least amount of sinkage for each slope angle. The experimental results showed that for slope angles of 0–30 degrees, the rover equipped with the proposed assistive grousers experienced significantly less sinkage and consumed less current compared to the rover equipped with conventional grousers.

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Plowing for Rover Control on Extreme Slopes

Cited by 7 publications

References 16 publications

UTOPUS Traction Technology: A new method for planetary exploration of steep and difficult terrain

UTOPUS Traction Technology: A new method for planetary exploration of steep and difficult terrain

Wall Deadlock Evasion Control Based on Rotation Radius Adjustment

The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines

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