Zero scrub, large contact area, three-degree-of-freedom holonomic vehicles for mobile robotics applications

摘要

Large contact area, zero scrub, three-degree-of-freedom holonomic vehicles (“LCA” “ZS-3” vehicles) are proposed for use in mobile robotics applications. ZS-3 vehicles avoid any rotational degree of freedom about a surface-normal axis between respective paired vehicle-ground contacting surfaces, resulting in nominally zero scrub at the surface contact plane. We briefly survey various forms of LCA ZS-3 vehicles and explore types utilizing arrayed omniwheels in more detail. Kinematic analysis shows these vehicles are holonomic—in the strict sense of having fully integrable velocity transforms—in all three degrees of freedom of motion in the plane, providing algebraic odometry and path-independent positioning analogous to fixed-base manipulators. We further propose ZS-3 vehicles as an additional category, and degree of holonomic mobility as an additional index of classification, of wheeled mobile robots and of vehicles generally. We explore torque balancing for a specific configuration.