Title: Design and optimisation of variable geometry single-tracked vehicle for climbing stairs

Authors: Dong Il Park, Sung-Kyun Lim, Yoon Keun Kwak

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST, 373-1 Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST, 373-1 Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST, 373-1 Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea

Abstract: There have been many researches about the various utilities of mobile robots and the driving mechanism for off-road mobility. It is necessary for the robot vehicles to play the key roles of search and rescue operations in dangerous areas and unknown terrains, instead of humans. It is a prior issue to develop a driving mechanism that can overcome off-road obstacles to achieve such objectives, such as stairs. Therefore, we proposed a new type of driving mechanism that has a variable geometry single-track. This mechanism has a symmetric configuration so that the robot advances in dual directions and prepares against overturn. By using transformation, it can reduce the maximum energy consumption in steering and rotating and also maximise the ability to overcome stairs.

Keywords: stair climbing robots; search and rescue robots; single track vehicles; tracked mechanisms; tracked vehicles; variable configuration; variable geometry; mobile robots; robot vehicles; vehicle design; robot design; robot control; optimal design; optimisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2007.012305

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2007 Vol.43 No.1/2/3/4, pp.221 - 236

Published online: 04 Feb 2007 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article