Hybrid Steering System of Six-Wheel Multiterrain Robot (SW-MTR)

Mobile robotics has received a lot of interest among the researchers in recent years, particularly for applications in the remote areas. Six wheels multiterrain robot (SW-MTR) is a robot with semicircular rocker and bogie mechanism developed at PDPM IIITDM Jabalpur. The robot moves on different terrain including sandy area, uneven rocky area, steps of 6 cm height, boulders of 8 cm height, inclined plane of 25°, etc. For steering of the SW-MTR, the hybrid steering system has been proposed with a combination of differential steering mechanism with worm-sector steering mechanism. This paper presents the dynamic model of the hybrid steering system with specific consideration on the wheel skidding effects and load distribution on each of the six wheels. A comparison of the turning radius, contact forces between wheels and surface, torque and power consumption of the proposed hybrid steering system with other individual steering systems is also presented through simulation.