A testbed for the experimental study of a cylindrical shape robot on rough-terrain

A testbed for the characterization of the dynamic behavior of a cylindrical robot in motion on deformable soil is described. The mobile robot consists of a cylindrical rigid shell which can roll on rough terrain thanks to an internal device. The test-bench was designed and optimized to experimentally test the interaction between the external shell and the soil with different mechanical characteristics. A LabView based software to lead and acquire the necessary data for the experiments was developed. Pc-based boards with general purposes A/D I/O ports were used for the rotative and linear encoders and the internal device d.c. motor. The goal is to build a big sensor to estimate the forces system arising from the interaction between a rigid cylindrical shell and rough terrain. Experimental results show the testbed can give a good measure of the travelling resistance that the mini-vehicle meets on rough terrain.