Features of slopes overcoming by walking devices

Abstract

For mobile robots designed to work in extreme conditions, an important characteristic is the value of the overcoming slope. For wheeled and tracked vehicles, the angle of the overcoming slope is limited by the adhesion properties of the soil. The walking device can provide overcoming of higher slopes, since the analogue of the adhesion coefficient for walking machines, with a large footprint track depth, can be significantly greater than 1. The paper discusses the results of experimental studies of the features of overcoming slopes by a walking device in weak soil conditions. When mobile robots overcoming inclines, they may overturn or slide downhill. It is shown that on soft soils the sliding of walking machines downhill is unlikely because of significant deformations of the soil under the support elements. On the other hand, the deformation of the soil worsens the resistance of the walking vehicle to overturning. A method of increasing resistance to overturning by controlling the position of the robot body by separately regulating the conditional clearance of walking mechanisms is considered. The possibility of adjusting the clearance in the propulsion unit on the basis of Umnov-Chebyshev cyclic walking mechanisms is shown. Climbing slopes requires a certain amount of traction. The values of the additional power and the force characteristics of the walking device’s drive necessary for successful overcoming of slopes have been determined. The results of the work can be demand in the development of walking machines and mobile robots. Key words Mobile robots, walking machines, interaction with the ground, traction and coupling properties, overcoming slopes, tipping resistance, mathematical modeling, field tests. Acknowledgements Research was partially supported by RFBR and the Administration of the Volgograd region, research projects no. 19-08-01180 a, 19-48-340007 p_a.