Innovative design of six wheeled space exploration robot using module combination

In this paper, we propose a novel methodology for the innovative design of six wheeled robot locomotion based on module combination, and the mathematical description of this method is also deduced using combinatorics. According to it, the creative design of wheeled locomotion can be carried out at systematic level and module level. At the systematic level, the design scheme can be obtained by isomorphic combination and isomerous combination of component modules. While at the modular level, the component module can be generalized from many existing robot modules or by creative design. As a result, 4 kinds of wheel module, 3 kinds of suspension module and 3 kinds of body module are obtained. Using the innovative design method based on module combination, as many as 135 kinds of innovative design scheme are proposed, including 35 new kinds of wheeled robot derived from isomorphic combination and 99 new kinds wheeled robot derived from isomerous combination. As for validation, we developed 3 kinds of wheel module, 4 kinds of suspension module and 1 kind of body module, and several prototype robots obtained by module combination are used to carry out mobility evaluation test, which help make decision on the proper choice for Chinese lunar robot in the future.