Mobility of a leg-wheeled robot with reduced DOF on designated terrains using skating motion by passive wheels

This paper presents the effort taken into making our leg-wheeled robot move across flat terrains of different inclination. Previously we have presented the idea of developing the robot using the possible least number of Degrees of Freedom (DOF) by applying the Reduced DOF design. As the complexity of designing and controlling the robot primarily depends on the DOF, we believe that by reducing the number of DOF, it is possible to simplify the design and the controlling of the robot, as well as to increase the energy efficiency as a whole. One of the methods to implement the idea of this Reduced DOF design is to use passive wheels instead of active wheels. In this paper, we will discuss the overall design of the robot, the mechanism of trajectory during wheeled mode, the influence of Toe Angle of the wheels, stroke length and the speed of the reciprocating motion by the body in response to the steepness of a specific terrain and finally the results and conclusion of the experiments conducted.