Control of Spherical Robots on Uneven Terrains

Abstract

Hybrid robots incorporate the advantages of both aerial-only and terrestrial-only vehicles to achieve enhanced mobility and better energy efficiency. Among hybrid vehicles, spherical robots offer the best maneuverability. While operating on uneven surfaces is one of the main benefits of spherical robots, the current literature only covers control of these robots on flat surfaces. This work presents two control algorithms to track a desired trajectory and angular velocity of spherical robots on uneven terrains. The proposed control algorithms can be used when the terrain is known analytically or empirically (i.e., point cloud). By allowing the controller to use empirical information about the terrain profile, this work broadens the implementation of spherical robots in real applications.