U-026
A Simple Motion Planner for a Spherical Mobile Robot
Authors: 1. Ranjan Mukherjee and 2. Mark A. Minor
Department of Mech. Engineering
Michigan State University
2555 Engineering Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1226
ph: (517) 355-1834, e-mail: mukherji@egr.msu.edu
Abstract
Mobile robots have been traditionally designed with wheels and few have explored
designs with spherical exo-skeletons. A spherical mobile robot that offers to have
a number of advantages, is proposed in this paper. The success of our design is dependent
upon development of simple motion planning strategies for reconfiguration of the
sphere. In this paper we address the open-loop control problem and present simple
strategies for reconfiguration. To bring the sphere to a desired position with a
desired orientation, we use a specific kinematic model. Under this model, the motion
of the sphere is comprised of straight lines and circular arcs for individual inputs.
Our motion planner reconfigures the sphere using individual inputs, and as compared
to existing motion planners, requires limited computation and provides the scope
for easy implementation.
Ranjan Mukherjee, Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
2555 Engineering Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1226
Ph: (517) 355-1834
Fax: (517) 353-1750
mukherji@egr.msu.edu