The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines
Typical rovers with wheels equipped with conventional grousers are prone to getting stuck in unconsolidated sandy dune inclines as the wheels tend to sink into the sand. This phenomenon is caused by the motion of the grouser through the sand during the latter half of the rotation, in which the grous...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2016-09-01
|
| Series: | Sensors |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/9/1507 |
| _version_ | 1798039648099893248 |
|---|---|
| author | Ahmad Najmuddin Ibrahim Shinichi Aoshima Naoji Shiroma Yasuhiro Fukuoka |
| author_facet | Ahmad Najmuddin Ibrahim Shinichi Aoshima Naoji Shiroma Yasuhiro Fukuoka |
| author_sort | Ahmad Najmuddin Ibrahim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Typical rovers with wheels equipped with conventional grousers are prone to getting stuck in unconsolidated sandy dune inclines as the wheels tend to sink into the sand. This phenomenon is caused by the motion of the grouser through the sand during the latter half of the rotation, in which the grouser pushes the sand from underneath the wheel upwards and towards the backside of the wheel. This creates a space that the wheel can sink into. To minimize sand movement and subsequent sinkage, we propose the concept of using an “assistive grouser”, which is attached to the side of a conventional rover wheel. The assistive grouser is designed to be able to autonomously maintain a uniform angle relative to the rover body independent of the rotation of the wheels. Rotating the wheel causes the assistive grousers to automatically penetrate into the sand slope surface at a constant angle of attack, thereby acting as an anchor and providing traction for the wheel. Maintaining a uniform grouser angle as opposed to a rotating motion also assists in extracting the grouser out of the sand without moving the sand towards the back of the wheel. Moreover, the angle of the assistive grousers is held constantly by a single dedicated motor, meaning that the angle of the assistive grousers can be optimized to provide the least amount of sinkage for each slope angle. The experimental results showed that for slope angles of 0–30 degrees, the rover equipped with the proposed assistive grousers experienced significantly less sinkage and consumed less current compared to the rover equipped with conventional grousers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:56:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-66db59a2ea7e4bb995071e8730f76e73 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:56:46Z |
| publishDate | 2016-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-66db59a2ea7e4bb995071e8730f76e732022-12-22T04:01:04ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202016-09-01169150710.3390/s16091507s16091507The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune InclinesAhmad Najmuddin Ibrahim0Shinichi Aoshima1Naoji Shiroma2Yasuhiro Fukuoka3Graduate School of Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Ibaraki University, Hitachi 316-8511, JapanDepartment of Intelligent Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Ibaraki University, Hitachi 316-8511, JapanDepartment of Intelligent Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Ibaraki University, Hitachi 316-8511, JapanDepartment of Intelligent Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Ibaraki University, Hitachi 316-8511, JapanTypical rovers with wheels equipped with conventional grousers are prone to getting stuck in unconsolidated sandy dune inclines as the wheels tend to sink into the sand. This phenomenon is caused by the motion of the grouser through the sand during the latter half of the rotation, in which the grouser pushes the sand from underneath the wheel upwards and towards the backside of the wheel. This creates a space that the wheel can sink into. To minimize sand movement and subsequent sinkage, we propose the concept of using an “assistive grouser”, which is attached to the side of a conventional rover wheel. The assistive grouser is designed to be able to autonomously maintain a uniform angle relative to the rover body independent of the rotation of the wheels. Rotating the wheel causes the assistive grousers to automatically penetrate into the sand slope surface at a constant angle of attack, thereby acting as an anchor and providing traction for the wheel. Maintaining a uniform grouser angle as opposed to a rotating motion also assists in extracting the grouser out of the sand without moving the sand towards the back of the wheel. Moreover, the angle of the assistive grousers is held constantly by a single dedicated motor, meaning that the angle of the assistive grousers can be optimized to provide the least amount of sinkage for each slope angle. The experimental results showed that for slope angles of 0–30 degrees, the rover equipped with the proposed assistive grousers experienced significantly less sinkage and consumed less current compared to the rover equipped with conventional grousers.http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/9/1507wheeled rovertraversing sandy dune inclineassistive grousers |
| spellingShingle | Ahmad Najmuddin Ibrahim Shinichi Aoshima Naoji Shiroma Yasuhiro Fukuoka The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines Sensors wheeled rover traversing sandy dune incline assistive grousers |
| title | The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines |
| title_full | The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines |
| title_fullStr | The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines |
| title_short | The Effect of Assistive Anchor-Like Grousers on Wheeled Rover Performance over Unconsolidated Sandy Dune Inclines |
| title_sort | effect of assistive anchor like grousers on wheeled rover performance over unconsolidated sandy dune inclines |
| topic | wheeled rover traversing sandy dune incline assistive grousers |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/9/1507 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ahmadnajmuddinibrahim theeffectofassistiveanchorlikegrousersonwheeledroverperformanceoverunconsolidatedsandyduneinclines AT shinichiaoshima theeffectofassistiveanchorlikegrousersonwheeledroverperformanceoverunconsolidatedsandyduneinclines AT naojishiroma theeffectofassistiveanchorlikegrousersonwheeledroverperformanceoverunconsolidatedsandyduneinclines AT yasuhirofukuoka theeffectofassistiveanchorlikegrousersonwheeledroverperformanceoverunconsolidatedsandyduneinclines AT ahmadnajmuddinibrahim effectofassistiveanchorlikegrousersonwheeledroverperformanceoverunconsolidatedsandyduneinclines AT shinichiaoshima effectofassistiveanchorlikegrousersonwheeledroverperformanceoverunconsolidatedsandyduneinclines AT naojishiroma effectofassistiveanchorlikegrousersonwheeledroverperformanceoverunconsolidatedsandyduneinclines AT yasuhirofukuoka effectofassistiveanchorlikegrousersonwheeledroverperformanceoverunconsolidatedsandyduneinclines |