Design, Analysis And Development of Rover Species Using Common Joint Design

Abstract

Rover is a space exploration vehicle which is mainly designed to traverse over uneven and bumpy terrain of other celestial body. Rovers are broadly divided into two types: wheeled and legged. Wheeled rovers are articulated multibody structure which permits passive adaptation to ground surface. Some rovers use an active suspension which allows control of the attitude parameters of the robot. Legged rovers are used to crawl over the uneven surface. The present study deals with the design, analysis and prototyping of Three Limbed Rover and Rocker-Bogie Rover (RBR). Three Limbed Rover as the name suggests consist of three limbs each limb having three degrees of freedom with pitch-pitch-roll configuration and a wheel at the end of the limb. And Rocker-Bogie Rover is based on the Roker-Bogie mechanism having Rocker and bogie links pivoted to each other. For both, the mathematical model is prepared and based on the same CAD modelling and FEA analysis is carried out using Creo parametric, also the dynamic analysis is carried out using Creo Mechanism Dynamics and Adams view. In order to increase the load carrying capacity of Three Limbed Rover, the developed version of the same is designed using Harmonic drive. The present study also deals with the design and analysis of six degree of freedom limb for Walk and Roll Rover (WARR) and the quarter scale version of WARR. The WARR have six limbs each having six degrees of freedom with yaw-pitch-pitch-roll-pitch-roll configuration and a wheel at the end of the limb. For both, the mathematical model is prepared and based on the same CAD modelling and FEA analysis is carried out using Creo parametric, also the dynamic analysis is carried out using Creo Mechanism Dynamics. All the designed rovers in the present study have only revolute joints.