Dynamic Operational Limits for a Stair-Climbing, Tracked, Urban Robot

There is substantial interest in the development of man-portable unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to perform surveillance in urban environments. Many studies have been done on the control logic needed to guide the vehicles in autonomous and semi-autonomous modes. Less work has been done to assess the effectiveness of the controlled inputs on mobility performance.

A challenging mobility requirement for urban robots is to ascend stairs, including landings. Advanced multibody dynamics software is used to identify the mobility limits of a typical tracked robot during stair climbing maneuvers. Torque control is used to improve the dynamic behavior of the tracked robot.