Development of a Wheeled Robotic Rover in Rough Terrains

Robotic rovers are mobile robots to perform challenging tasks in unstructured terrain. In this paper a six-wheeled robotic rover was developed with mobility in rough terrain. The rover consists of three configuration segments with a pair of cylinder-conical motorized wheels, joined together by two articulated suspensions with three degree-of-freedom. The two articulated suspensions will improve the rover mobility maneuver in different terrains by passive or active suspension configurations. Different locomotion modes of the rover are discussed based on terrain conditions, and some simulations about those models are shown. A control system of the rover based on combination of teleoperation and autonomous locomotion is described. Some experiments testify the rover excellent mobility in rough terrains and strong obstacle-overcoming capability