MECHANISM DESIGN AND MOTION ANALYSIS OF A SPHERICAL MOBILE ROBOT

Abstract

A new spherical mobile robot BHQ-1 is designed. The spherical robot is driven by two internally mounted motors that induce the ball to move straight and turn around on a flat surface. A dynamic model of the robot is developed with Lagrange method and factors affecting the driving torque of two motors are analyzed. The relationship between the turning radius of the robot and the length of two links is discussed in order to optimize its mechanism design. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the good controllability and motion performance of BHQ-1.