Design and Autonomous Control of the Active Adaptive Suspension System Rudra Mars Rover

TL;DR

This paper introduces an autonomous suspension system with independent wheel control for rovers, enhancing terrain adaptability and chassis leveling, demonstrated on a university rover at an international competition.

Contribution

It presents a novel suspension design with autonomous control algorithms, improving rover stability and terrain handling capabilities.

Findings

Successful implementation on a university rover

Effective chassis leveling on slopes

Enhanced terrain adaptability

Abstract

Semi or completely autonomous unmanned vehicles, remotely driven or controlled through artificial intelligence, are instrumental to foster space exploration. One of the most essential tasks of a rover is terrain traversing which requires the need of efficient suspension systems. This communication presents a suspension system giving degrees of freedom to every wheel with the help of linear actuators connected through bell crank levers. The actuation of linear actuators directly varies the height of every wheel from the chassis hence offering articulation to the rover. A control system is developed offering an algorithm for its autonomous actuation. This system proves instrumental for leveling of the chassis where any kind of slope, roll or pitch, may impute abstaining of payloads from efficient working. This was tried and tested successfully as a part of the rover developed by Team RUDRA from SRM University, INDIA (first Team from Asia and finishing at the fifth position) at University Rover Challenge 2013, held at UTAH, USA in May-June.