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Advantages of Active and Passive Suspension Systems in Obstacle Negotiation for Planetary Rovers

Malte Wirkus; Jonathan Babel; Christian Backe
In: Karsten Berns; Mohammad Osman Tokhi; Arne Roennau; Manuel F. Silva; Rüdiger Dillmann (Hrsg.). Walking Robots into Real World. International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots and the Support Technologies for Mobile Machines (CLAWAR-2024), September 4-6, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Pages 169-180, Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Vol. 1115, No. 2, ISBN 978-3-031-71300-2 978-3-031-71301-9, Springer Nature Switzerland, Cham, 1/2025.

Abstract

Hybrid locomotion systems with actively controlled wheeledlegged suspension offer high off-road mobility, feature ground adaptation and are capable of overcoming large obstacles. Rovers with passive suspension also have remarkable climbing abilities and are much easier to control. In this paper, experiments on overcoming obstacles with two robots with different suspension systems, one with an active wheeledlegged suspension and one with a passive triple-bogie suspension, are analysed and the advantages and disadvantages for different applications are shown. The control effort of the active suspension significantly slows down the rover in situations that can also be handled with a passive suspension. However, the unique ability of the active suspension to overcome obstacles without contact is a promising feature that requires further research and development to realise its full technological potential for autonomous operation.

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