Analysis of climbing obstacle capability of a spherical robot with Mixed-Driven for polar research

Abstract

Combined the driving features of the spherical robot with Internal-Driven and Wind-Driven and took the special environment into account, this paper proposes a spherical robot structure with Mixed-Driven, both Internal-Driven and Wind-Driven, which is mainly consists of a flexible spherical shell and a drive module. The robot can be driven by the wind, as well as improve the capability of climbing and avoid obstacle through the drive module. We establish mathematical models of climbing obstacle on a slope and channel-crossing based on considering the deformation of flexible spherical shell and get the relationships between the wind speed the robot loads and both the height of obstacle and the length of channel, and compare and analysis the same abilities with the full Wind-Driven spherical robot. Then we use ADAMS dynamics software to carry out simulation experiments to examine validity of the mathematical model of climbing obstacle capability. This paper will provide follow-up study on dynamics and control of the spherical robot with theoretical basis.