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A contact parameter estimation method for multi-modal robot locomotion on deformable granular terrains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2024

Shipeng Lyu Open the ORCID record for Shipeng Lyu [Opens in a new window] ,
Wenyao Zhang ,
Chen Yao Open the ORCID record for Chen Yao [Opens in a new window] ,
Zhengtao Liu ,
Yang Su ,
Zheng Zhu  and
Zhenzhong Jia
Shipeng Lyu
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518055, China
Wenyao Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518055, China
Chen Yao
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518055, China
Zhengtao Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518055, China
Yang Su
Affiliation:
Harbin of Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, 150090, China
Zheng Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518055, China
Zhenzhong Jia*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518055, China
*
Corresponding author: Zhenzhong Jia; Email: jiazz@sustech.edu.cn
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Abstract

In this paper, we consider the problem of contact parameters (slippage and sinkage) estimation for multi-modal robot locomotion on granular terrains. To describe the contact events in the same framework for robots operated at different modes (e.g., wheel, leg), we propose a unified description of contact parameters for multi-modal robots. We also provide a parameter estimation method for multi-modal robots based on CNN and DWT (discrete wavelet transformation) techniques and verify its effectiveness over different types of granular terrains. Besides motion modes, this paper also considers the influence of slope angles and the robot’s handing angles over contact parameters. Through comparison and analysis of the prediction results, our method can not only effectively predict the contact parameters of multi-modal robot locomotion on a granular medium (better than $96\%$ accuracy) but also achieves the same or better performance when compared to other (direct) contact measurement methods designed for individual motion modes, that is, single-modal robots such as quadruped robots and mars rovers. Our proposed unified contact parameter estimation method can be useful for studying the interaction mechanics between multi-modal robots and granular terrains as well as terrain classification tasks due to its superior sensitivity which is analyzed in the experiments.

Keywords

robot locomotioncontact estimationgranular terrainterramechanics
Type
Research Article
Information
Robotica , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , April 2024 , pp. 1001 - 1017
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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