Displacement Analysis of an Actively Articulated Wheeled Vehicle Configuration With Extensions to Motion Planning on Uneven Terrain

Abstract

This manuscript presents a displacement analysis of actively articulated wheeled vehicles on uneven terrain. These vehicles are distinct from traditional wheeled systems since they have the ability to actively adapt to variations in the terrain and they can actively influence the forces at the wheel-terrain contact locations. They also possess special mobility capabilities such as obstacle climbing and self-recovery from an over-turn failure. The problem of solving for the configuration of these vehicles on uneven terrain has been addressed in detail. The displacement analysis leads to multiple solutions due to the inherent nonlinearity in the position kinematic equations. Geometric reasoning has been used to identify the particular configuration that represents the “correct” vehicle geometry on the terrain. Applications of the displacement analysis algorithms to vehicle planning on uneven terrain have been discussed. An obstacle climbing maneuver of a three-module actively articulated wheeled vehicle has been described.