Kinematics analysis of a transformable wheel-track robot with self-adaptive mobile mechanism

Performing the dangerous mission such as planetary exploration, reconnaissance, anti-terrorism, and rescue, the mobile robot should be capable of moving in the complex and unpredictable environment where the ground may be soft and hard, even and uneven. To access to such terrain features, a novel robot with the self-adaptive mobile mechanism, named as Amoeba-III, has been proposed and developed. It consists of a control system unit and two symmetric transformable wheel-track (TWT) units. Driven only by one servo motor, each TWT unit can efficiently drive over rough terrain by changing the locomotion mode and transforming the track configuration. It means that the mobile mechanism of the robot has self-adaptability to the irregular environment. This paper briefly introduces the mobile mechanism of Amoeba-III, analyses its locomotion modes and postures when the robot runs on the different terrain. Kinematics analysis is presented to verify the movement of Amoeba-III. Finally, experimental results show the validity of this platform.