Paper presented at the 16th European-African Regional Conference of the ISTVS
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Title: Skidding suppression method using “discrete 4-wheel-drive typed rover” considering steering angle at traveling across loose slope
Authors: Kojiro Iizuka, Tatsuhiko Suga, Takaaki Sakata, and Daisuke Fujiwara
Abstract: Wheeled rovers, which are capable of wide-area and detailed exploration, are widely used for lunar and planetary exploration to expand human activity areas. The Moon and planets have many steep slopes such as craters, and their surfaces are loose soil ground with accumulated particles called regolith. When a rover traverses such loose soil slopes, there is a risk that the rover may deviate from the target path because of it is getting to skid to the downward direction of the slope. Therefore, it is necessary to suppress or decrease the skidding. A discrete 4-wheel-drive typed rover has been focused on to solve this problem in this study. Discrete 4-wheel-drive typed rover can be moved by a unit of a chassis and a wheel independently like a legged rover. This proposed method was more effective in suppressing skidding than the conventional wheel-driven method, but skidding was observed during wheel motion due to the lack of force on the upper side of the slope. This study is focused on “the steering angle”, which can generate the force on the upper side of the slope, to further suppress skidding. Experiments were conducted to measure the amount of skidding across an 800 mm slope using the test bed. The results showed that the amount of skidding is decreased as the steering angle is increased. Moreover, the steering angle to the upper side of the slope is effective in suppressing skidding. Thus, in addition, a discrete driving method, to add “the steering angle” has indicated effective suppression of skidding because of a steered wheel generates forces on the upper side of the slope.
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