Abstract
Abstract. The world market of mobile robotics is expected to increase substantially in the next 20 yr, surpassing the market of industrial robotics in terms of units and sales. Important fields of application are homeland security, surveillance, demining, reconnaissance in dangerous situations, and agriculture. The design of the locomotion systems of mobile robots for unstructured environments is generally complex, particularly when they are required to move on uneven or soft terrains, or to climb obstacles. This paper sets out to analyse the state-of-the-art of locomotion mechanisms for ground mobile robots, focussing on solutions for unstructured environments, in order to help designers to select the optimal solution for specific operating requirements. The three main categories of locomotion systems (wheeled – W, tracked – T and legged – L) and the four hybrid categories that can be derived by combining these main locomotion systems are discussed with reference to maximum speed, obstacle-crossing capability, step/stair climbing capability, slope climbing capability, walking capability on soft terrains, walking capability on uneven terrains, energy efficiency, mechanical complexity, control complexity and technology readiness. The current and future trends of mobile robotics are also outlined.
Highlights
The forecasts of all the major robotics research institutions clearly indicate that the world market of service robotics is expected to increase dramatically over the 20 yr, surpassing the market of industrial robotics in terms of units and sales (International Federation of Robotics, 2012; Prassler and Kosuge, 2008; EURON, 2009; CCC and CRA, 2009); in particular, ground mobile robots are the most widespread category of service robots; 75 % of total unit sales of professional service robots in 2010 were defence or field robots (International Federation of Robotics, 2012)
This paper considers locomotion systems for robots moving predominantly on the ground, even if some of them are capable of travelling on water for short distances (Altendorfer et al, 2001)
The load is distributed by the suspension system robots are subject to vibrations as the lateral track profile is a known as the Pentad Grade Assist Suspension (PEGASUS) polygon with moving vertices, and they are rarely fitted with (Kubotam et al, 2005); its fifth wheel is connected centrally damping systems
Summary
The forecasts of all the major robotics research institutions clearly indicate that the world market of service robotics is expected to increase dramatically over the 20 yr, surpassing the market of industrial robotics in terms of units and sales (International Federation of Robotics, 2012; Prassler and Kosuge, 2008; EURON, 2009; CCC and CRA, 2009); in particular, ground mobile robots are the most widespread category of service robots; 75 % of total unit sales of professional service robots in 2010 were defence or field robots (International Federation of Robotics, 2012). Quaglia: Review article: locomotion systems for ground mobile robots existing locomotion systems and to synthetically compare their strengths and weaknesses in different operating conditions. This is the main aim of the work, which considers both research prototypes and commercially available industrial products. The evaluation considers the following features: maximum speed, obstacle crossing capability, step/stair climbing capability, slope climbing capability, walking capability on soft terrains, walking capability on uneven terrains, energy efficiency, mechanical complexity, control complexity, and technology readiness. Broader bibliographies are available in Siegwart and Nourbakhsh (2004); Campion and Chung (2008); Kajita and Espiau (2008); Kemp et al (2008); Meyer and Guillot (2008)
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