Dynamic analysis and control system of spherical robot for polar region scientific research

To figure out the limitation of enough power resource or energy supplied in Antarctic expedition, this paper presented a large-size spherical robot which can drive by internal power and wind. It consists of a 2-DOF pendulum inside the shell, rotating with transverse and longitudinal axis. Due to the non-holonomic restraint of motion, for smooth and steady control, the spherical robot is designed to finish its movement by turning and linear motion independently, and simpler through decouple method. Base on this, a dynamic model of spherical robot is developed using Lagrange, and analyzed the dynamic characteristic. Further, the hardware implementations and software system are introduced. The test result showed that rolling angular velocity and pendulum angle approach to stability with smart steering, fast rolling, and accomplish common detection mission.