Spherical Rolling Robots Design, Modeling, and Control: A Systematic Literature Review

TL;DR

This systematic literature review comprehensively categorizes spherical robot designs and control strategies from 1996 to 2023, providing insights and recommendations to advance their development and deployment.

Contribution

It offers a thorough classification of existing spherical robot designs and control methods, highlighting novel approaches and guiding future research directions.

Findings

Identified diverse locomotion and control strategies

Compiled a dataset of 3189 records from five databases

Provided recommendations for design and control optimization

Abstract

Spherical robots have garnered increasing interest for their applications in exploration, tunnel inspection, and extraterrestrial missions. Diverse designs have emerged, including barycentric configurations, pendulum-based mechanisms, etc. In addition, a wide spectrum of control strategies has been proposed, ranging from traditional PID approaches to cutting-edge neural networks. Our systematic review aims to comprehensively identify and categorize locomotion systems and control schemes employed by spherical robots, spanning the years 1996 to 2023. A meticulous search across five databases yielded a dataset of 3189 records. As a result of our exhaustive analysis, we identified a collection of novel designs and control strategies. Leveraging the insights garnered, we provide valuable recommendations for optimizing the design and control aspects of spherical robots, supporting both novel design endeavors and the advancement of field deployments. Furthermore, we illuminate key research directions that hold the potential to unlock the full capabilities of spherical robots