ORIGINAL DESIGN OF A WHEELCHAIR ROBOT EQUIPPED WITH VARIABLE GEOMETRY SINGLE TRACKED MECHANISMS

Abstract

This paper introduces an originally designed wheelchair robot equipped a variable geometry single tracked mechanism (VGSTM). This mechanism can actively control the robot shape and track tension to adapt for obstacles by two pairs of flippers, so the obstacle clearing ability of traditional wheelchairs can be improved. With the aim of stair-climbing, an optimal solution method of driving moments is proposed to guide the robot design; a tip-over and slippage stability criterion is established to evaluate the robot performance. Finally, the prototype is built, and the stair-climbing experiment is carried out to verify the obstacle clearing ability of the robot.