Periodic Gait Plans for Locomotion on Natural Terrain by a Submersible Walking Dredger/Miner

Use of surface floating dredgers in deep inland reservoirs and continental shelves, either for dredging or mining is restricted by several operational limitations and mobilization problems. Ladder length is a major constraint and in the absence of good approach roads, transportation of bigger surface floating dredgers to inland areas is difficult. In shelf areas, dredging operation is less precise due to currents, waves and winds. Use of small, modular comparatively less expensive submersible dredgers/miners is a suitable solution to some of the above-mentioned problems. A collaborative research project between Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada and Excavation & Equipment Manufacturing (P) Ltd., India was set up to develop, design, build and test a small prototype of a modular walking submersible dredger suitable for deep inland reservoirs. The full-scale electro- hydraulically operated prototype was remotely operated on land for all the full-scale prototype tests. This paper describes the theoretical gait plans developed for the designed vehicle to perform straight line and curvilinear locomotion on natural terrain. Representative results showing the comparisons between the theoretical and experimental results for the gait plans are presented.