Design and modeling of a novel single-actuator differentially driven robot -

Abstract

In this thesis, we introduce a concept design for a single-actuator differentially driven robot. The design is based on connecting two variable-diameter wheels to the same drive shaft. The wheels are designed to have engineered stiffness so that the diameters of the wheels are varied by shifting the weight of the drive mechanism from side to side. Hence, as one wheel decreases in diameter and the other increases, the robot steers in the direction of the wheel with the smaller diameter. Moreover, we develop the kinetostatic model of the mobile platform, and show that the system can be simplified and modeled as a vertical rolling disk having a constant radius with a pendulum acting as the driving force. Then, the dynamic analysis of the robot is developed and the equations of motion are derived. Finally, the motion planning problem is studied by applying Dubins curve, and a comparison is made between the real dubins curve obtained for the robot and the perfect dubins curve.