Design and analysis of a six-wheeled companion robot with mechanical obstacle-overcoming adaptivity

Song, Z; Luo, Z; Wei, G; Shang, J

Abstract

A six-wheeled companion exploration robot with an adaptive climbing mechanism is proposed and
released for the complicated terrain environment of planetary exploration. Benefiting from its three-rocker-arm
structure, the robot can adapt to complex terrain with its six wheels in contact with the ground during locomotion,
which improves the stability of the robot. When the robot moves on the flat ground, it moves forward through
the rotation of the wheels. When it encounters obstacles in the process of moving forward, the front obstaclecrossing wheels hold the obstacle, and the rocker arms on both sides rotate themselves with mechanical adaptivity
to drive the robot to climb and cross the obstacle like crab legs. Furthermore, a parameterized geometric model
is established to analyze the motion stability and the obstacle-crossing performance of the robot. To investigate
the feasibility and correctness of design theory and robot scheme, a group of design parameters of the robot are
determined. A prototype of the robot is developed, and the experiment results show that the robot can maintain
stability in rugged terrain environments and has a certain ability to surmount obstacles.

Citation

Song, Z., Luo, Z., Wei, G., & Shang, J. (2021). Design and analysis of a six-wheeled companion robot with mechanical obstacle-overcoming adaptivity. Mechanical Sciences, 12(2), 1115-1136. https://doi.org/10.5194/ms-12-1115-2021

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 22, 2021
• Publication Date: Dec 23, 2021
• Deposit Date: Feb 1, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 1, 2022
• Journal: Mechanical Sciences
• Print ISSN: 2191-9151
• Electronic ISSN: 2191-916X
• Publisher: Copernicus Publications
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 1115-1136
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/ms-12-1115-2021
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.5194/ms-12-1115-2021
• Related Public URLs: http://www.mechanical-sciences.net/