Energy Utilization and Energetic Estimation of Achievable Range for Wheeled Mobile Robots Operating on a Single Battery Discharge

Abstract

This paper presents an energetic model that ana- lyzes energy utilization in mobile robot traverse and estimates maximum range achievable by wheeled mobile robots operating on a single battery discharge. After taking into account different energy utilizations, such as propulsion and steering, the model indicates that the most energy-consuming part of mobile robot is robotics functions, such as computing, sensing, communication, etc. Based on this it points out ways to improve maximum robot traverse range: increasing rover velocity, driving duty cycle (ratio of driving time to total mission time), and decreasing robotics functions’ power. Considering the significant energy proportion of robotics functions, the leftover propulsive con- sumptions are analyzed, which directly determine the maximum range using a classic terramechanics model. The proportions of energy expended in internal robot system and external interaction with terrain are quantified with experiments using a small- sized 4-wheel robot. The maximum traverse range of wheeled- mobile robots could be significant, for example 17km with only 1.12kg battery (166 watts-hour), if the normally immense robotics consumptions are minimized or isolated from the propulsive branch. The resulting propulsion energy, which is only a small fraction of total battery energy expended, is used to estimate achievable range for wheeled mobile robots operating only on a single discharge.