たわみ性車輪の開発と軟弱地盤上における走行特性解析

―剛体車輪との比較―

抄録

This paper presents development of an elastic wheel for a mobile robot and evaluates its performance in rough terrain. Previous researches have revealed that such elastic wheel shows better mobility in rough terrain than a rigid wheel and therefore it may also improve a mobility performance of planetary rover. However, the characteristics of elastic wheel, such as wide contact angles, vibration, and additional resistance torque due to its elasticity, have not been quantitatively evaluated. The work in this paper first develops an elastic wheel using sheet metals with circularly-collocated ring springs. The wheel also employs tactile and light sensors on its surface that measures contact force and contact angles, respectively. Performance of the elastic wheel is experimentally compared to that of a rigid wheel having same dimension based on their sinkage in loose sand. The result confirms that the elastic wheel has less wheel sinkage that leads to less mobility hazard in rough terrain.