Design methodology,synthesis,and control strategy of the high-speed planetary rover

The planned missions to explore the surfaces of the Moon and Mars require high exploration efficiency,thus imposing new demands on the mobility system of planetary rovers.In this paper,a design method for a high-speed planetary rover(HPR)is proposed,and the representative configurations are modeled and simulated.First,the influence of the planetary surface environment on the design of HPRs is analyzed,and the design factors for HPRs are determined by studying a single-wheel suspension.Second,a design methodology for HPRs is proposed.The adaptive suspension mechanisms of a four-wheeled rover are synthesized using the all-wheel-attachment condition and position and orientation characteristics theory,which are expressed in the form of a graph theory for the increase in elastic components and active joints.Finally,a dynamic model is built,and a simulation is carried out for the proposed rover.The validity of the proposed method and rover is verified,thus highlighting their potential application in future planetary exploration.

Design and Trafficability Study of Flexible Wheel for Planetary Exploration Rover

To reduce sending costs, a flexible wheel configuration is proposed. The wheel is made of titanium alloy （Ti-6Al-4V） in consideration of the planetary environment factors （i. e. strong radiation, big temperature differences, high vacuum）, and mass constraint of launch vehicle. The advantages of the proposed wheel involves the potential for： ① small sending volume and mass, ② large deployed area and volume to reduce wheel loading, ③ a damping effect to smooth motion on rough terrain. To study the trafficability and tractive performance of the wheel concept, the drawbar pull and driven torque were calculated based on simplified model of terramechanics formulations. The results show that the wheel possesses sufficient drawbar pull to negotiate all types of soil stratums listed in this contribution.

A dimension reduced INS/VNS integrated navigation method for planetary rovers

Inertial navigation system/visual navigation system(INS/VNS) integrated navigation is a commonly used autonomous navigation method for planetary rovers. Since visual measurements are related to the previous and current state vectors(position and attitude) of planetary rovers, the performance of the Kalman filter(KF) will be challenged by the time-correlation problem. A state augmentation method, which augments the previous state value to the state vector, is commonly used when dealing with this problem. However, the augmenting of state dimensions will result in an increase in computation load. In this paper, a state dimension reduced INS/VNS integrated navigation method based on coordinates of feature points is presented that utilizes the information obtained through INS/VNS integrated navigation at a previous moment to overcome the time relevance problem and reduce the dimensions of the state vector. Equations of extended Kalman filter(EKF) are used to demonstrate the equivalence of calculated results between the proposed method and traditional state augmented methods. Results of simulation and experimentation indicate that this method has less computational load but similar accuracy when compared with traditional methods.

Proposal of Walking to Prevent a Fall of a Planetary Exploration Legged Rover Using Effect of Loose Soil Caused by a Propagation of Vibration

In this study,a walking method that prevents a fall of the planetary exploration-legged rover is proposed.In the proposed walking method,the leg is sunk by giving vibration to the ground.The posture of the rover is changed to prevent a fall of the rover by sinking the leg.First,the relationship between the kind of vibration and the subsidence of the leg is confirmed.In this experimental result,the leg is shown to be easy to sink to the ground by giving vibration.Moreover,the larger the vibratory force is,the easier the leg sinks to the ground.Finally,the legged testbed walks on the loose ground with a slope using the proposed walking method.In this experimental result,the testbed is difficult to fall down when it uses the proposed walking.Moreover,the angle of a slope that the testbed can walk becomes large by using the proposed walking.

A Study on Planetary Visual Odometry Optimization： Time Constraints and Reliability

Robust and efficient vision systems are essential in such a way to support different kinds of autonomous robotic behaviors linked to the capability to interact with the surrounding environment, without relying on any a priori knowledge. Within space missions, above all those involving rovers that have to explore planetary surfaces, vision can play a key role in the improvement of autonomous navigation functionalities： besides obstacle avoidance and hazard detection along the traveling, vision can in fact provide accurate motion estimation in order to constantly monitor all paths executed by the rover. The present work basically regards the development of an effective visual odometry system, focusing as much as possible on issues such as continuous operating mode, system speed and reliability.

Three-layer intelligence of planetary exploration wheeled mobile robots:Robint,virtint,and humint

The great success of the Sojourner rover in the Mars Pathfinder mission set off a global upsurge of planetary exploration with autonomous wheeled mobile robots(WMRs),or rovers.Planetary WMRs are among the most intelligent space systems that combine robotic intelligence(robint),virtual intelligence(virtint),and human intelligence(humint) synergetically.This article extends the architecture of the three-layer intelligence stemming from successful Mars rovers and related technologies in order to support the R&D of future tele-operated robotic systems.Double-layer human-machine interfaces are suggested to support the integration of humint from scientists and engineers through supervisory(Mars rovers) or three-dimensional(3D) predictive direct tele-operation(lunar rovers).The concept of multilevel autonomy to realize robint,in particular,the Coupled-Layer Architecture for Robotic Autonomy developed for Mars rovers,is introduced.The challenging issues of intelligent perception(proprioception and exteroception),navigation,and motion control of rovers are discussed,where the terrains' mechanical properties and wheel-terrain interaction mechanics are considered to be key.Double-level virtual simulation architecture to realize virtint is proposed.Key technologies of virtint are summarized:virtual planetary terrain modeling,virtual intelligent rover,and wheel-terrain interaction mechanics.This generalized three-layer intelligence framework is also applicable to other systems that require human intervention,such as space robotic arms,robonauts,unmanned deep-sea vehicles,and rescue robots,particularly when there is considerable time delay.