A Small Wheeled Robotic Rover for Planetary Exploration

Abstract

A newly small robotic rover is presented because of its advantage in size and lightweight for sending it to a distant planet. The rover, which consists of two motorized cylinder-conical wheels, moves by virtue of centroid offset of chassis and enables it to passively resist overturn. Moreover, the rover is capable of potential combinability that means such rovers can be controlled to combine to a big multi-wheeled rover with strong locomotion capability or a stable working platform for a more difficult mission. Mobility system and locomotion modes of the robotic rover are described. Based on equivalent mechanical models, locomotion performance of the rover is analyzed such as creeping along a slope, surmounting a steep obstacle or a ditch, and anti-overturn ability is discussed. Some simulation results show locomotive characteristic of the rover and its control system structure is presented