Design and Control of a Transformable Multi-Mode Mobile Robot

Abstract

Conventional mobile robots typically include a single locomotion mode and require additional arms to transport objects. To address the challenges of traversing in diverse environments and transporting objects, a novel transformable multi-mode Mecanum-wheeled mobile robot is proposed in this paper. Owing to its unique foreleg design, the robot could operate either in the quadrilateral four-wheel mode, collinear four-wheel mode, or upright two-wheel mode; it could even smoothly switch between any two modes by re-arranging the foreleg wheels. When standing with its forelegs raised, the robot can carry objects and transport them to a predetermined destination. The design and operational modes of the robot were explored in detail. The kinematics and control of the different operational modes were analyzed and experimentally verified. The results indicate that the developed robot can perform versatile locomotion to accomplish object transportation in diverse environments by utilizing its foreleg-wheel mechanisms. Furthermore, the robot experiences an additional angular velocity because of an asymmetric arrangement of the front and rear Mecanum wheels, which differs from conventional symmetric arrangements.