Dynamics and Control of a Spherical Robot with an Axisymmetric Pendulum Actuator

TL;DR

This paper explores the control of a spherical robot with an axisymmetric pendulum actuator, focusing on gait-based motion control, including straight-line acceleration and rotation, with an algorithm for control torque calculation.

Contribution

It introduces a control algorithm for a spherical robot with a pendulum actuator, demonstrating motion control under non-holonomic constraints and deriving a reduced system with a first integral.

Findings

Control algorithm for spherical robot motion

Motion control along straight line with constant acceleration

Reduced system with a first integral of motion

Abstract

This paper investigates the possibility of the motion control of a ball with a pendulum mechanism with non-holonomic constraints using gaits - the simplest motions such as acceleration and deceleration during the motion in a straight line, rotation through a given angle and their combination. Also, the controlled motion of the system along a straight line with a constant acceleration is considered. For this problem the algorithm for calculating the control torques is given and it is shown that the resulting reduced system has the first integral of motion.