Design of a Spherical Rover Driven by Pendulum and Control Moment Gyroscope for Planetary Exploration

The spherical shape is an interesting approach to develop exploration robots, or rovers, thanks to its capability of ensuring omnidirectional motion and of being basically unsensitive to possible rollovers. This works intends to propose a novel detailed design for such a kind of robot and to discuss...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Robotics (Basel) 2024-06, Vol.13 (6), p.87
Main Authors: Melchiorre, Matteo, Colamartino, Tommaso, Ferrauto, Martina, Troise, Mario, Salamina, Laura, Mauro, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
control moment gyroscope
Control theory
Design and construction
Gyroscopes
Mission planning
Mobile robots
Motion
Multibody systems
path control
Pendulums
planetary exploration
Robots
rover
Space exploration
spherical robot
Surveillance
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Summary:The spherical shape is an interesting approach to develop exploration robots, or rovers, thanks to its capability of ensuring omnidirectional motion and of being basically unsensitive to possible rollovers. This works intends to propose a novel detailed design for such a kind of robot and to discuss the performance that can be reached by adopting this solution. The work hence introduces the requirements assumed for the design of the robot and discloses the general layout that was selected, which includes a pendulum for motion transmission and two coupled gyroscopes to overcome high, steep obstacles, such as steps. The paper then summarizes the functional design computation carried out to size and selects the components of the system. Eventually, a control algorithm is described and tested on a complete multibody model of the robot. The results in the execution of standard maneuvers such as motion on a horizontal plane, as well as in the overcome of a step, are shown. The energetic balance of the rover is described, and some preliminary consideration about mission planning are reported in the final discussion.
ISSN:2218-6581
2218-6581
DOI:10.3390/robotics13060087