Virtual Prototyping for Conceptual Design of a Tracked Mobile Robot

Mobile robots equipped with manipulator arms are often required to operate on rough and uneven terrains. During the design stage, the designer needs to verify the robots performance on various test terrains. Physical prototyping although is more desirable, may prove to be expensive and time consuming. Virtual prototyping can be used especially in the conceptual design stage in order to significantly reduce the amount of physical testing that is required. This paper discusses the application of virtual prototyping using ADAMS software for tracked mobile robots. The virtual prototype was created for an existing robot and was validated with tests done on the physical robot. Different types of virtual terrains were created and dynamic simulations of the robot were performed on these terrains. The simulation results helped in many ways including visualization of the robot motion on different terrains and in determining the limiting dimensions of obstacles, stairs, ditches, etc., that the robot can safely negotiate. The described process can be applied to new robot designs, while still in their conceptual design stage