We address the problem of improving mobility of rovers with rocker-bogie suspension. Friction and torque requirements for climbing a single step were considered as performance parameters. The main contribution of the paper is an improved formulation for rover optimization using smooth functions, which enables use of powerful gradient based nonlinear programming (NLP) solvers for finding solutions. Our formulation does not have certain shortcomings present in some earlier formulations. We first formulate the problem of determining optimal torques to be applied to the wheels to minimize (a) friction requirement, and (b) torque requirement, and obtain demonstrably optimal solutions. We then formulate the problem of optimal design of the rover itself. Our solution for climbing a step of height two times the wheel radius is 13% better than that of the nominal rover. This solution is verified to be a local minimum by checking Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions. Optimal solutions were obtained for both forward and backward climbing. We show that some earlier formulations cannot obtain optimal solutions in certain situations. We also obtained optimal design for climbing steps of three different heights, with a friction requirement which is 15% lower than that of the nominal rover.
The article presents a novel flapping wing mechanism for Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) inspired by one of the most efficient flyers of the aerial world, the Common swift ( Apus apus). The flight characteristics such as wing beat frequency, wing beat amplitude, and fore and aft movements, as well as wing rotation of the bird at a flight speed 8 m /s, were studied. The common swift rotates its hand wing keeping the pitch of the arm wing constant during the entire wingbeat cycle. The hand wing undergoes forward rotation during the downstroke and backward rotation during the upstroke. This complex wing kinematics enables swift to generate various unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms. Using the geometric and kinematic details, a flapping wing mechanism that emulates the wing kinematics of the bird was designed. The flapping wing mechanism based on the epicyclic ellipsograph mechanism presented herein integrates flapping motion, fore and aft motion, and selective wing rotation. Importantly, this fully constrained mechanism allows performing all the key kinematic motions of the common swift with a single actuator. A kinematic model of the mechanism is presented to calculate the design parameters based on the scale of the MAV. Kinematic simulation of the mechanism is also presented to verify the design.
The problem of determining wheel torques of a rover, to minimize friction requirement, has been addressed by many researchers. We address it by trying to understand the ways in which local optima can occur, and on the basis of that understanding, develop analytical and non-iterative algorithms for determining global optima. The problem is posed in two variations, with normal reaction forces on wheels bounded below by (a) zero, and (b) a positive limit. In both cases, the nature of optima is studied comprehensively, and illustrated by solving examples. Explicit expressions are used to find roots of up to a cubic polynomial. Our algorithms are on the average about an order of magnitude faster than an SQP based general optimization solver, when the latter is started from random guesses. Moreover, our algorithms were able to reach global minima without fail for all examples solved, which number more than a thousand.
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