Research on virtual scene simulation for planetary rover

The virtual simulation environment for planetary rover includes two parts: the solution of its kinematics model and the virtual simulation environment. This paper describes kinematics model of the rover consisted of wheels using a rocker-bogie design. The model is established with the D-H parameter method. The kinematics equations of rover moving on uneven terrain are deduced with different kinematics and homogeneous transformation matrix. For the analyses of the planetary rover kinematics model in the virtual simulation scene, the necessary joint angles and some attitude angles can be got by solving nonlinear optimization equations of the established rover-terrain model. Finally, the accuracy of rover kinematics model and rover-terrain model is verified in the virtual environment which is created by VC/OpenGVS. The planetary rover kinematics simulation in the virtual scene is realized.