Gait Analysis and Control of Rimless Wheel Rovers for Planetary Exploration

Abstract

Rimless wheeled robots are a hybrid variant of traditionally wheeled and legged robots. These hybrid systems combine the benefits of both approaches, such as power efficiency and good terrain traversability. However, the simplicity of the design of the rimless wheel has the disadvantage of limiting the flexibility of foot placement and the impacts caused on the body when navigating rigid surfaces. In this work, we focus on analyzing the effects of different gaits on the robot’s center body. For that, a novel gait classification approach for a rimless wheeled system is introduced and the effects of selected gaits are evaluated in a simulation using a simplified robot model. The analysis of simulation results shows that the chosen gait has a strong effect on the vertical motion of the robot’s center body.