TY - GEN
T1 - Evaluation of influence of surface shape of locomotion mechanism on traveling performance of planetary rovers
AU - Sutoh, Masataku
AU - Nagaoka, Kenji
AU - Nagatani, Keiji
AU - Yoshida, Kazuya
PY - 2012/1/1
Y1 - 2012/1/1
N2 - The surfaces of both the Moon and Mars are covered with loose soil, with numerous steep slopes along their crater rims. Therefore, one of the most important requirements imposed on planetary rovers is their ability to minimize slippage while climbing steep slopes, i.e., the ability to generate a drawbar pull with only a small amount of slippage. To this end, the wheels/tracks of planetary rovers typically have parallel fins called lugs (i.e., grousers) on their surface. Recent studies have reported that these lugs can substantially improve the traveling performances of planetary rovers. Therefore, in this study, we conducted experiments using lightweight two-wheeled and mono-tracked rovers to provide a quantitative confirmation regarding the influence of lugs on the traveling performances of planetary rovers. Based on our experimental results, we confirmed that, although an increase in the number of lugs contributes to the high traveling performance of wheeled rovers, it does not contribute much to that of tracked rovers. Furthermore, an increase in lug height improves the traveling performances of both types of rovers.
AB - The surfaces of both the Moon and Mars are covered with loose soil, with numerous steep slopes along their crater rims. Therefore, one of the most important requirements imposed on planetary rovers is their ability to minimize slippage while climbing steep slopes, i.e., the ability to generate a drawbar pull with only a small amount of slippage. To this end, the wheels/tracks of planetary rovers typically have parallel fins called lugs (i.e., grousers) on their surface. Recent studies have reported that these lugs can substantially improve the traveling performances of planetary rovers. Therefore, in this study, we conducted experiments using lightweight two-wheeled and mono-tracked rovers to provide a quantitative confirmation regarding the influence of lugs on the traveling performances of planetary rovers. Based on our experimental results, we confirmed that, although an increase in the number of lugs contributes to the high traveling performance of wheeled rovers, it does not contribute much to that of tracked rovers. Furthermore, an increase in lug height improves the traveling performances of both types of rovers.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84864493841&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/ICRA.2012.6225024
DO - 10.1109/ICRA.2012.6225024
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84864493841
SN - 9781467314039
T3 - Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
SP - 3419
EP - 3424
BT - 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2012
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2012
Y2 - 14 May 2012 through 18 May 2012
ER -