Characteristics of lug-soil interaction forces acting on a rotating lug in sandy soil

To improve the mobility of wheeled robots on loose sandy terrain, lugs (i.e., grousers) are attached to the surface of each wheel. Unlike existing studies that focus on the effects of lug shape (e.g. height and width) on lug-soil interaction forces, this study involved experimental and quantitative analyses to investigate the effects of parameters such as inclination angle, sinkage length, and moving direction angle of a lug that is translationally moving on sandy ground. In this study, a single lug is actuated to rotate on a sandy testbed and characteristics of the lug-soil interaction during the rotational motion are quantitatively investigated. Based on the experimental results, the effects of angular speed, lug sinkage length and cumulative deformation of the soil on lug-soil reaction forces are discussed. Conclusions from this study would be useful for understanding the lug-soil interaction mechanism for a lug that is performing arbitrary planar motion on sandy terrain.