Design And Construction Of An All Terrain Robot

ABSTRACT

Due to the rapid progress in the field of robotics, it is a high time to concentrate on the development of a robot that can manoeuvre in all type of landscapes, ascend and descend stairs and sloping surfaces autonomously. This paper presents details of a prototype robot which can navigate in very rough terrain, ascend and descend staircase as well as sloping surface and cross ditches. The robot is made up of six differentially steered wheels and some passive mechanism, making it suitable to cross long ditches and landscape undulation. Static stability of the developed robot have been carried out analytically and navigation capability of the robot is observed through simulation in different environment, separately. Description of embedded system of the robot has also been presented and experimental validation has been made along with some details on obstacle avoidance. Finally the limitations of the robot have been explored with their possible reasons

 TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0      INTRODUCTION

1.1      OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

1.2      PROJECT MOTIVATION

1.3      SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

1.4      APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT

1.5      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

1.6      LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

CHAPTER TWO

2.0      LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1   REVIEW OF ALL-TERRAIN ROBOT
2.2   OVERVIEW OF A ROBOT ON A WHEEL

2.3      OVERVIEW OF A ROBOT

2.4      HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF ROBOT

2.5      IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WHEEL IN ROBOTICS

2.6      DIFFERENT TYPES OF ALL-TERRAIN ROBOTS ON WHEELS

CHAPTER THREE

3.0      DESIGN METHODOLOGY

3.1      DEVELOPMENT OF THE MECHANICAL STRUCTURE

• MECHANICAL STRUCTURE

3.3      STATIC FORCE ANALYSIS

3.4      DESIGN BASIS FOR USE OF SPRINGS AND LINK CONNECTING THE MIDDLE AND FRONT WHEELS

3.5    DEVELOPMENT OF EMBEDDED SYSTEM

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0      RESULT ANALYSIS

4.1      CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE AND TESTING

4.2      CASING AND PACKAGING

4.3      ASSEMBLING OF SECTION

4.4      TESTING OF SYSTEM OPERATION

4.5      PACKAGING

4.6      MOUNTING PROCEDURE

4.7      TESTING ANALYSIS

4.8      RESULT

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1      CONCLUSION

5.2      BIBLIOGRAPHY

 CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                        INTRODUCTION

All-Terrain Robots (ATRs) are the category of mobile robots that are capable of showcasing excellent off-road performances. They are able to navigate across bumpy and rough terrains. They mainly have wheels or tracks for locomotion. ATRs have various link mechanisms in order to overcome various sized obstacles. It is always desirable that the ATRs will be autonomous, that is, it will sense its environment with the help of sensors and then will take further decision on its own, with the help of instructions. The goal of this work was to conceive and build a mobile robot which will be a wheeled rover having good off-road capabilities, good grip over undulating, rough terrain, variable size obstacle negotiation capability, staircase ascending and descending capability, ditch/crevasse crossing capability and generating stable motion in undulating surface.

1.2                                              BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

As early as the 1870’s scientists started to investigate how animals walk and run [16]. They even managed to develop some primitive walking models. These were primitive be- cause they moved just as if they used wheels, moving their bodies in a straight path while the legs moved up and down in a mechanical sequence. In the 1950’s it was realized that to get any real advantages from a walking machine over a machine with wheels the legs needed to be controlled in- dividually [16]. The biggest advantage of using legs is the ability to choose where to contact the ground. While a wheel has no choice but to roll over and into every rock, hump or hole in its path, a leg can easily step over such obstacles. One of the early approaches was to utilize a human to con- trol the legs. Succeeding with this was a milestone in legged research as well as the first robots with dynamic stability. This work is on an outdoor robot. To build an outdoor robot usually requires more costs that traditional robots.

All the robots able to travel on rough terrain are built on a strong chassis and feature big wheels. In general, a chassis is a simple structure that includes the suspension system and the frame. Sometimes you can meet the term of the unibody. A unibody chassis is an alternative to the standard design of a chassis. A unibody chassis consists of a frame and body integrated with the same structure.

1.2                                             OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

The objective of this work is to design an outdoor robot that is capable of travel on diverse terrains such as sand, concrete, grass or a rough surface

1.3                                                  PROJECT MOTIVATION

Our motivation to work on this project came from an idea that robot don’t move on rough surface easily. An idea came that if a big wheel is added to a robot such robot will be able to move on rough surface.  This robot has the ability to travel on rough surface and has a strong chassis and feature big wheels. In general, a chassis is a simple structure that includes the suspension system and the frame. Sometimes you can meet the term of the unibody. A unibody chassis is an alternative to the standard design of a chassis. A unibody chassis consists of a frame and body integrated with the same structure.

1.4                                                 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

In many application of controlling robotic gadget it  becomes quite hard and complicated when there comes the part of controlling it with remote or many different switches. Mostly in military application, industrial robotics, construction vehicles in civil side, medical application for surgery. In this field it is quite complicated to control the robot or particular machine with remote or switches, sometime the operator may get confused in the switches and button itself, so a new concept is introduced to control the machine with the movement of hand which will simultaneously control the movement of robot.

1.5                                          APPLICATION OF THE PROJECT

Terrain is used with surveillance, academic research, and most practical robotic applications

1.6                                         SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

The wheels are everywhere in all-terrain robotics and is one of the main components that facilitates the movement by reducing the friction. Most robots are designed with 3 wheels, 2 motors and 2-speed controllers. This is the most common structure for a robot designed for a simple structure, to move quickly, easily controlled, spin on the spot, or turn around in small places.

In general, wheels are used for:

• low production costs – this is the case if we compare the prices for wheels and tracks;
• speed – compared with tracks, the wheels need a lower amount of torque to move on from stationary;
• maneuverability – the wheels provide high maneuverability compared with continuous tracks. The tracks are very difficult in maneuverability;
• lightweight – continuous tracks are much heavier than wheels, and this is the main reason why wheels are used especially in cases when the mass of the robot is a critical property – for example, space exploration missions;
• simplicity – a wheel has less moving parts, which means that there are fewer components that can get damaged;
• materials – several materials can be used to build wheels that meet environmental conditions;

1.7                                           LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT

1. If power supply fails system won’t work
2. Failure of device/components may have dire consequences, fatal accidents can occur.
3. Depending on the terrain, a robot needs to pass small or large obstacles. For a wheel to get over a vertical obstacle, it has to be at least twice as tall as the vertical obstacle