A Novel Approach for Optimal Design of a Rover Mechanism

  • Authors:

  • A. Meghdari;H. N. Pishkenari;A. L. Gaskarimahalle;S. H. Mahboobi;R. Karimi

  • Affiliations:

  • Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran;Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran;Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran;Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran;Center of Excellence in Design, Robotics and Automation, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

This article presents an overview of the mechanical design and fabrication of a Rescue Robot (CEDRA) for operation in unstructured environments. In order to obtain an appropriate mechanism for climbing the stairs, a novel method has been developed. In this kinematics-based approach we don't need to perform any dynamic analysis which is highly complicated and time consuming for most rovers. According to the essential characteristics needed for rovers, two objective functions were defined. We have shown that the new mechanism performs better on rough terrains than the previous well-known mechanism widely used in the Mars rovers. Moreover the design parameters are optimized by means of Genetic Algorithm. The efficacy of this method is demonstrated for the optimized robot with respect to our first prototype. Optimum parameters are then utilized in fabrication. Upon fabrication, this unit has been tested in a clean laboratory environment, as well as, real life-conditioned arenas similar to earthquake zones. The results are satisfactory in all aspects, and improvements are currently underway to enhance capabilities of the rescue robots for various applications.