Actively Articulated Wheeled Architectures for Autonomous Ground Vehicles - Opportunities and Challenges 2023-01-0109
Traditional ground vehicle architectures comprise of a chassis connected via passive, semi-active, or active suspension systems to multiple ground wheels. Current design-optimizations of vehicle architectures for on-road applications have diminished their mobility and maneuverability in off-road settings. Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGV) traversing off-road environments face numerous challenges concerning terrain roughness, soil hardness, uneven obstacle-filled terrain, and varying traction conditions. Numerous Active Articulated-Wheeled (AAW) vehicle architectures have emerged to permit AGVs to adapt to variable terrain conditions in various off-road application arenas (off-road, construction, mining, and space robotics). However, a comprehensive framework of AAW platforms for exploring various facets of system architecture/design, analysis (kinematics/dynamics), and control (motions/forces) remains challenging. While current literature on the AAW system incorporates modeling and control from the legged and wheeled-legged robots community, it lacks a systematic process of architecture selection and motion control that should be developed around critical quantifiable performance parameters. This paper will: (i) analyze a broad body of literature; and (ii) identify modeling and control techniques that can enable the efficient development of AAW platforms. We then analyze key performance measures with respect to traversability, maneuverability, and terrainability, along with an experimental simulation of an AAW vehicle traversing over uneven terrain and how active articulation could achieve some of the critical performance measures. Against the performance parameters, gaps within the existing literature and opportunities for further research are identified to potentially enhance AAW platforms’ performance.
Citation: Mehta, D., Kosaraju, K., and Krovi, V., "Actively Articulated Wheeled Architectures for Autonomous Ground Vehicles - Opportunities and Challenges," SAE Technical Paper 2023-01-0109, 2023, https://doi.org/10.4271/2023-01-0109. Download Citation
Author(s):
Dhruv Mehta, Krishna Chaitanya Kosaraju, Venkat N Krovi
Affiliated:
Clemson University
Pages: 11
Event:
WCX SAE World Congress Experience
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Related Topics:
Active suspension systems
Architecture
Autonomous vehicles
Terrain
Wheels
Off-highway vehicles and equipment
Unmanned ground vehicles
Military vehicles and equipment
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