TY - JOUR
T1 - Planetary rovers' wheel-soil interaction mechanics
T2 - New challenges and applications for wheeled mobile robots
AU - Ding, Liang
AU - Deng, Zongquan
AU - Gao, Haibo
AU - Nagatani, Keiji
AU - Yoshida, Kazuya
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 50975059/ 61005080), the Chinese State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System Foundation (grant number SKLRS200801A02), the Key Laboratory Opening Funding of HIT (grant number HIT.KLOF.2009060/2009061), and the “111 Project” of the Chinese Ministry of Education (grant number B07018).
PY - 2011/1
Y1 - 2011/1
N2 - With the increasing challenges facing planetary exploration missions and the resultant increase in the performance requirements for planetary rovers, terramechanics (wheel-soil interaction mechanics) is playing an important role in the development of these rovers. As an extension of the conventional terramechanics theory for terrestrial vehicles, the terramechanics theory for planetary rovers, which is becoming a new research hotspot, is unique and puts forward many new challenging problems. This paper first discusses the significance of the study of wheel-soil interaction mechanics of planetary rovers and summarizes the differences between planetary rovers and terrestrial vehicles and the problems arising thereof. The application of terramechanics to the development of planetary rovers can be divided into two phases (the R&D phase and exploration phase for rovers) corresponding to the high-fidelity and simplified terramechanics models. This paper also describes the current research status by providing an introduction to classical terramechanics and the experimental, theoretical, and numerical researches on terramechanics for planetary rovers. The application status of the terramechanics for planetary rovers is analyzed from the aspects of rover design, performance evaluation, planetary soil parameter identification, dynamics simulation, mobility control, and path planning. Finally, the key issues for future research are discussed. The current planetary rovers are actually advanced wheeled mobile robots (WMRs), developed employing cutting-edge technologies from different fields. The terramechanics for planetary rovers is expected to present new challenges and applications for WMRs, making it possible to develop WMRs using the concepts of mechanics and dynamics.
AB - With the increasing challenges facing planetary exploration missions and the resultant increase in the performance requirements for planetary rovers, terramechanics (wheel-soil interaction mechanics) is playing an important role in the development of these rovers. As an extension of the conventional terramechanics theory for terrestrial vehicles, the terramechanics theory for planetary rovers, which is becoming a new research hotspot, is unique and puts forward many new challenging problems. This paper first discusses the significance of the study of wheel-soil interaction mechanics of planetary rovers and summarizes the differences between planetary rovers and terrestrial vehicles and the problems arising thereof. The application of terramechanics to the development of planetary rovers can be divided into two phases (the R&D phase and exploration phase for rovers) corresponding to the high-fidelity and simplified terramechanics models. This paper also describes the current research status by providing an introduction to classical terramechanics and the experimental, theoretical, and numerical researches on terramechanics for planetary rovers. The application status of the terramechanics for planetary rovers is analyzed from the aspects of rover design, performance evaluation, planetary soil parameter identification, dynamics simulation, mobility control, and path planning. Finally, the key issues for future research are discussed. The current planetary rovers are actually advanced wheeled mobile robots (WMRs), developed employing cutting-edge technologies from different fields. The terramechanics for planetary rovers is expected to present new challenges and applications for WMRs, making it possible to develop WMRs using the concepts of mechanics and dynamics.
KW - Control
KW - Design and performance evaluation
KW - Dynamics simulation
KW - Planetary rover
KW - Soil parameter identification
KW - Terramechanics
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U2 - 10.1007/s11370-010-0080-5
DO - 10.1007/s11370-010-0080-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:78651295788
SN - 1861-2776
VL - 4
SP - 17
EP - 38
JO - Intelligent Service Robotics
JF - Intelligent Service Robotics
IS - 1
ER -