Stability analysis of a tracked mobile robot in climbing stairs process

Obstacle negotiation stability is essential to unmanned ground vehicle. The stability criterion which is proposed in this paper can provide the basis for analysing robot's stability. With analysing the interaction between the stairs and the tracked robot which is used in harsh environment, this paper presents two methods to judge the stability of the robot in climbing stairs process. Here the kinematic model is established with the D-H method. Using this model, the robot's ability of climbing stairs is analysed. With the model and the ability analysis method, a geometry stability analysis method which using the stability pyramid and a force stability analysis method which using the force between robot and stairs are proposed. At last, a simulation case and experiments illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for climbing stairs.