Abstract
This paper deals with a spherical rolling robot driven by a two-degree-of-freedom pendulum. A full dynamic model for this system is developed. Under the assumption that the contact path is specified and the sphere moves in pure rolling mode, the full dynamic model is reduced by imposing virtual constraints. Based on the reduced model, two motion planning algorithms, the differential-flatness-based one and the optimal-control-based one, are constructed. The feasibility of the algorithms is verified under simulation for a specific case, tracing circular curves in the plane.
