Design, Modeling, and Control of an Autonomous Legged-Wheeled Hybrid Robotic Vehicle with Non-Rigid Joints

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2021

Authors

Vítor H. Pinto (Author) FEUP; Inês N. Soares (Author) Other; Marco Rocha (Author) Other; José Lima (Author) Other; José Gonçalves (Author) Other; Paulo Gomes da Costa (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Applied Sciences

Vol. 10

Pages: 1-6116

Publisher: MDPI

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 7 Citations

Scopus - 9 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00V-3RT

DOI: 10.3390/app11136116

Abstract (EN): This paper presents a legged-wheeled hybrid robotic vehicle that uses a combination of rigid and non-rigid joints, allowing it to be more impact-tolerant. The robot has four legs, each one with three degrees of freedom. Each leg has two non-rigid rotational joints with completely passive components for damping and accumulation of kinetic energy, one rigid rotational joint, and a driving wheel. Each leg uses three independent DC motors-one for each joint, as well as a fourth one for driving the wheel. The four legs have the same position configuration, except for the upper hip joint. The vehicle was designed to be modular, low-cost, and its parts to be interchangeable. Beyond this, the vehicle has multiple operation modes, including a low-power mode. Across this article, the design, modeling, and control stages are presented, as well as the communication strategy. A prototype platform was built to serve as a test bed, which is described throughout the article. The mechanical design and applied hardware for each leg have been improved, and these changes are described. The mechanical and hardware structure of the complete robot is also presented, as well as the software and communication approaches. Moreover, a realistic simulation is introduced, along with the obtained results.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 26