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Design and Kinematics of Mechanically Coupled Two Identical Spherical Robots

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Abstract

The use of spherical robots in outdoor operations has increased because they can move on uneven/three-dimensional (3D) terrain. Since the non-holonomic constraints and the rolling, tilting and turning kinematics of spherical robots are coupled on 3D terrain, these operations may require complex design or advanced control techniques for stable rolling kinematics on a straight trajectory. Instead, a simple design or solution can be used for these operations. This study proposes a simple design for stable rolling kinematics of spherical robots on a straight path without changing the existing design and without a controller. The proposed design is based on coupling the spherical robots with a mechanical component and can be easily applied to all spherical robots. The proposed design does not require any change in the structure of a spherical robot, but only an additional identical spherical robot and a mechanical coupler. The main contribution and significance of this study is a simple design to overcome the stability problems of a single spherical robot operating on flat and 3D terrain. The rolling stability of the single and the coupled spherical robots on flat road and 3D terrain was investigated by kinematic analysis to verify the validity of the proposed design. The effect of the stiffness of the mechanical coupling on the rolling kinematics of the spherical robots was studied in the kinematic analysis using different mechanical couplings, such as a rigid shaft, a relatively soft spring and a relatively stiff spring. Experimental studies were conducted to verify the validity of the proposed design for the spherical robots rolling especially on 3D terrains. The results show that the proposed design, which requires only a mechanical coupler instead of a complex design or advanced controller, is reliable and feasible. The rigid mechanical coupling of the two identical spherical robots could overcome the problems of maneuvering and rolling stability of spherical robots on 3D terrains.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Efeler, Aydın, Türkiye

    Ismail Hakki Sagsoz

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Efeler, Aydın, Türkiye

    Turgay Eray

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  1. Ismail Hakki Sagsoz
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Ismail Hakki Sagsoz contributed to the design, analysis and experiments; Turgay Eray contributed to the guidance of the numerical analysis and experiment; and both the authors wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Turgay Eray.

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Sagsoz, I.H., Eray, T. Design and Kinematics of Mechanically Coupled Two Identical Spherical Robots. J Intell Robot Syst 108, 12 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-023-01853-y

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