Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T11:57:59.358Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Design and experimental characterization of an omnidirectional unmanned ground vehicle for unstructured terrain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2014

Chenghui Nie ,
Marin Assaliyski  and
Matthew Spenko
Chenghui Nie
Affiliation:
Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616, USA
Marin Assaliyski
Affiliation:
Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616, USA
Matthew Spenko*
Affiliation:
Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mspenko@iit.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This paper describes the design and experimental validation of an omnidirectional unmanned ground vehicle built for operation on real-world, unstructured terrains. The omnidirectional capabilities of this robot give it advantages over skid-steered or Ackermann-steered vehicles in tight and confined spaces. The robot's conventional wheels allow for operation in natural, outdoor environments as compared to omnidirectional robots that use specialized wheels with small, slender rollers and parts that can easily become obstructed with debris and dirt. Additionally, the robot's active split offset caster design allows the robot to kinematically follow continuous but non-differentiable paths and heading angles regardless of its current kinematic configuration. The active split offset caster design also results in less scrubbing torque and therefore less energy consumption during steering as compared to actively steered caster designs. The focus of this paper is the robot's mechanical design as it relates to kinematic isotropy and experimental validation of the design.

Keywords

DesignMobile robotsControl of robotic systemsMechatronic systemsRobot dynamics
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 33 , Issue 9 , November 2015 , pp. 1984 - 2000
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Tlale, N. and Villiers, M., “Kinematics and Dynamics Modelling of a Mecanum Wheeled Mobile Platform,” Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of Mechatronics and Machine Vision in Practice, Auckland, New Zealand (Dec. 2–4, 2008) pp. 657–662.Google Scholar
2. Dickerson, S. L. and Lapin, B. D., “Control of an Omni-Directional Robotic Vehicle with Mecanum Wheels,” Proceedings of the National Telesystems Conference, Atlanta, GA, USA (Mar. 26–27, 1991) pp. 657–662.Google Scholar
3. Wada, M. and Asada, H. H., “Design and control of a variable footprint mechanism for holonomic omnidirectional vehicles and its application to wheelchairs,” IEEE Trans. Robot. Autom. 15 (6), 978–989 (1999).Google Scholar
4. Tadakuma, K., “Tetrahedral Mobile Robot with Novel Ball Shape Wheel,” Proceedings of the 1st IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, Pisa, Italy (Feb. 20–22, 2008) pp. 946–952.Google Scholar
5. Endo, T. and Nakamura, Y., “An Omnidirectional Vehicle on a Basketball,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Barcelona, Spain (Apr. 18–22, 2005) pp. 573–557.Google Scholar
6. Pin, F. and Killough, S., “A new family of omnidirectional and holonomic wheeled platforms for mobile robots,” IEEE Trans. Robot. Autom. 10 (4), 480–489 (1994).Google Scholar
7. Seekur. Available at: http://www.mobilerobots.com.Google Scholar
8. Lauria, M., Nadeau, I., Lepage, P., Morin, Y., Giguère, P., Gagnon, F., Létourneau, D. and Michaud, F., “Design and Control of a Four Steered Wheeled Mobile Robot,” Proceedings of the IEEE 32nd Annual Conference on Industrial Electronics, Paris, France (Nov. 6–10, 2006) pp. 4020–4025.Google Scholar
9. Oetomo, D., Li, Y. P., Ang, M. H. Jr. and Lim, C. W., “Omnidirectional Mobile Robots with Powered Caster Wheels: Design Guidelines from Kinematic Isotropy Analysis,” Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Aug. 2–6, 2005) pp. 3034–3039.Google Scholar
10. Borenstein, J., “Control and kinematic design for multi-degree-of-freedom mobile robots with compliant linkage,” IEEE Trans. Robot. Autom. 11, 21–35 (1995).Google Scholar
11. Shapiro, S., “Dual-tracked mobile robot for motion in challenging terrains,” J. Field Robot. 28, 769–791 (2011).Google Scholar
12. Yu, H., Spenko, M. and Dubowsky, S., “Omni-directional mobility using active split offset castors,” ASME J. Mech. Des. 126 (5), 822–829 (2004).Google Scholar
13. Yu, H., Dubowsky, S. and Skwersky, A., “Omni-Directional Mobility Using Active Split Offset Casters,” Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Baltimore, Maryland (Sep. 10–13, 2000) pp. 822–829.Google Scholar
14. Spenko, M., Design and Analysis of the SmartWalker, a Mobility Aid for the Elderly Master's Thesis (Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001).Google Scholar
15. Udengaard, M. and Iagnemma, K., “Analysis, design, and control of an omnidirectional mobile robot in rough terrain,” ASME J. Mech. Des. 131 (12) (2009).Google Scholar
16. Iagnemma, K., Udengaard, M., Ishigami, G., Spenko, M., Oncu, S., Khan, I., Overholt, J. and Hudas, G., “Design and Development of an Agile, Man Portable Unmanned Ground Vehicle,” Proceedings of the 26th Annual Army Science Conference, Orlando, Florida, USA (Dec. 1–4, 2008).Google Scholar
17. Udengaard, M. and Iagnemma, K., “Design of an Omnidirectional Mobile Robot for Rough Terrain,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Pasadena, California, USA (May 19–23, 2008) pp. 1666–1671.Google Scholar
18. Yu, H., Mobility Design and Control of Personal Mobility Aids for the Elderly Ph.D. Thesis (Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002).Google Scholar