OPTIMAL POSTURE CONTROL FOR FORCE ACTUATOR BASED ARTICULATED SUSPENSION VEHICLE FOR ROUGH TERRAIN MOBILITY

VIJAY P. EATHAKOTA    SRIKANTH KOLACHALAMA    K. Madhava Krishna    SIDDHARTH SANAN   

IIIT Hyderabad, India    Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, USA   


In this paper we develop a model of a Linear Force Actuator based actively articulated suspension vehicle with toroidal wheels and propose a strategy to control its contact forces to improve traction on uneven terrain in 3-D while maintaining a desired posture. We develop the quasi-static analysis for our vehicle and compare the maneuverability of our vehicle with that of a passive suspension system. Extensive uneven terrain simulations depict the efficacy of our proposed system.