High-adaption locomotion with stable robot body for planetary exploration robot carrying potential instruments on unstructured terrain

Kang XU, Shoukun WANG*, Junzheng WANG, Xiuwen WANG, Zhihua CHEN, Jinge SI

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is a strong demand for Planetary Exploration Mobile robots (PEMRs) that have the capability of the traversability, stability, efficiency and high load while tackling the specialized tasks on planet surface. In this paper, an electric parallel wheel-legged hexapod robot which has high-adaption locomotion on the unstructured terrain is presented. Also, the hybrid control framework, which enables robot to stably carry the heavy loads as well as to traverse the uneven terrain by utilizing both legged and wheeled locomotion, is also proposed. Based on this framework, robot controls the multiple DOF leg for performing high-adaption locomotion to negotiate obstacles via Gait Generator (GG). Additionally, by using Whole-Body Control (WBC) of framework, robot has the capability of flexibly accommodating the uneven terrain by Attitude Control (AC) kinematically adjusting the length of legs like an active suspension system, and by Force/torque Balance Control (FBC) equally distributing the Ground Reaction Force (GRF) to maintain a stable body. The simulation and experiment are employed to validate the proposed framework with the physical system in the planetary analog environments. Particularly, to smoothly demonstrate the performance of robot transporting heavy loads, the experiment of carrying 3-person load of about 240 kg is deployed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)652-665
Number of pages14
JournalChinese Journal of Aeronautics
Volume34
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2021

Keywords

  • Attitude control
  • Gait generation
  • High-adaption locomotion
  • Obstacle avoidance
  • Planetary exploration robot

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