抄録
In recent years, lunar and planetary explorations using planetary rovers have been increasing. The surface of the Moon or Mars are covered with loose sand and scatterd rocks. Therefore, the exploration rovers require high mobility system to traverse over rough terrain. It is obvious that vehicle parameteres, such as wheelbase, tread or the center of the gravity, significantly determine mobility performance of rovers. This paper presents an experimental analysis of the rover stability, particularly focusing on the relationship between the vehicle parameters and postural change of a wheeled rover while surmounting an obstacle on rough terrain. The stability analysis in this reseach employs a terramechanics based approach to estimate wheel sinkage, and also takes the normalized energy stability margin to indicate comparative evaluation of the vehicle parameters.
