Design of Wheel Grouser Geometry With Reduced Sinkage for LEV-1 Lunar Rover

Surface-mobile platforms have explored the moon and the red planet for nearly half century, providing a wealth of scientific data. However, surface mobility on planetary bodies remains a challenging task. In this letter, the formulation of reaction force by a grouser with a generalized geometry for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE robotics and automation letters Vol. 10; no. 6; pp. 5633 - 5640
Main Authors: Otsuki, Masatsugu, Yoshikawa, Kent, Maeda, Takao, Usami, Naoto, Yoshimitsu, Tetsuo
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 01.06.2025
Subjects:
Autonomous vehicles
dynamics
Gravity
Media
Mobile robots
Numerical models
Soil measurement
Space robotics and automation
Space vehicles
Surface topography
wheeled robots
Wheels
ISSN:2377-3766, 2377-3766
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Surface-mobile platforms have explored the moon and the red planet for nearly half century, providing a wealth of scientific data. However, surface mobility on planetary bodies remains a challenging task. In this letter, the formulation of reaction force by a grouser with a generalized geometry for a wheel of a planetary rover is presented, along with its verification through comparisons with the results by the conventional geometry. In a simulation study, the resistive force theory is applied to a general grouser geometry model. The study determines the impact of several parameters, particularly the grouser inclination, on draw-bar pull. The results obtained from the study suggest the formulation of a design for the grouser that is nearly optimal in its capacity to maximize the draw-bar pull per sinkage. We also apply the proposed geometry to the wheel on LEV-1, demonstrating that it works well in actual lunar operations.
ISSN:2377-3766
2377-3766
DOI:10.1109/LRA.2025.3561571