Dynamic Stability of a Rocker Bogie Vehicle: Longitudinal Motion

This paper describes a unified measure of stability of a Rocker Bogie vehicle that accounts for the tendency to slide, tipover, or lose contact with the ground considering both static equilibrium and dynamic effects. The measure of stability is computed by solving for the range of acceptable velocities and accelerations that satisfy a set of dynamic constraints. The maximum acceptable velocity serves as a dynamic stability measure, whereas the maximum acceptable acceleration at zero velocity serves as a static stability measure. The utility of the static and dynamic stability margins are demonstrated for both two dimensional and longitudinal quasi-3D motion in several examples.