Publication
Gait Analysis and Control of Rimless Wheel Rovers for Planetary Exploration
Dennis Schlee; Shubham Vyas; Raúl Domínguez; Frank Kirchner
In: International Conference on Space Robotics. International Conference on Space Robotics (iSpaRo-2024), located at 1st International Conference on Space Robotics, June 24-27, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, o. A. 2024.
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.