Multibody dynamics framework for performance evaluation of an all-terrain rover

Mobile robots have become a topic of immense interest because of their ability to carry out terrain surface explorations. One of the major challenges for these mobile robots is handling uneven terrains and climbing obstacles autonomously without any human supervision. To improve the mobility of ground rovers or all-terrain rovers, numerous design concepts have been proposed in the literature. However, there is very limited research in analysing the effect of individual design parameters on the overall performance and stability. This paper presents the mathematical modelling and an overview of the general framework for evaluating the performance of an all-terrain robot. The design of a dune rover is presented and the complete kinematic and quasi-static dynamic model is developed for the rover. This mathematical model is further validated by the computational framework in MSc. ADAMS. Several performance metrics like stability margin, wheel load deviation, and rover posture are evaluated for rough terrain conditions. Sensitivity analysis is also performed to examine the effect of individual design parameters on the overall performance. The primary objective of this work is to present a framework that designers can use as a preliminary filter to evaluate and compare the performance of all-terrain rovers on uneven ground conditions. Improvements in the robot design could pave the way for the introduction of mobile robots in a collaborative socio-domestic environment and industrial settings.