Design and Control of a Passively Steered, Dual Axle Vehicle
Abstract
In this paper we describe the steering, suspension and control systems of the rover Zoe, a solar-powered robot designed to explore the Mars-like landscapes of the Atacama Desert in Chile. We are developing the Zoe chassis as an alternative to the traditional six-wheeled, rocker-bogie system used by Mars rovers flown in the past ten years. Zoe travels over rough terrain using only four independent drive motors. Steering is accomplished by differentially driving pairs of these motors to passively articulate front and rear steering axles. In this paper we present a detailed mechanical design of the chassis, a description of Zoe's steering controller and results of steering controller tests that validate this design. We also include lessons learned after field experiments in the Atacama Desert of Chile.
BibTeX
@conference{Wagner-2005-9288,author = {Michael D. Wagner and Stuart Heys and David Wettergreen and James Teza and Dimitrios (Dimi) Apostolopoulos and George A. Kantor and William (Red) L. Whittaker},
title = {Design and Control of a Passively Steered, Dual Axle Vehicle},
booktitle = {Proceedings of 8th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS '05)},
year = {2005},
month = {September},
keywords = {Mobile robotics, control, chassis design},
}