Mobility analysis tool based on the fundamental principle of conservation of energy.

Technical Report · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/913529· OSTI ID:913529

Spletzer, Barry Louis; Nho, Hyuchul C; Salton, Jonathan Robert

In the past decade, a great deal of effort has been focused in research and development of versatile robotic ground vehicles without understanding their performance in a particular operating environment. As the usage of robotic ground vehicles for intelligence applications increases, understanding mobility of the vehicles becomes critical to increase the probability of their successful operations. This paper describes a framework based on conservation of energy to predict the maximum mobility of robotic ground vehicles over general terrain. The basis of the prediction is the difference between traction capability and energy loss at the vehicle-terrain interface. The mission success of a robotic ground vehicle is primarily a function of mobility. Mobility of a vehicle is defined as the overall capability of a vehicle to move from place to place while retaining its ability to perform its primary mission. A mobility analysis tool based on the fundamental principle of conservation of energy is described in this document. The tool is a graphical user interface application. The mobility analysis tool has been developed at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM. The tool is at an initial stage of development. In the future, the tool will be expanded to include all vehicles and terrain types.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 913529
• Report Number(s): SAND2007-2791
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Robotics-Applications.
42 ENGINEERING
All terrain vehicles-Automatic control.
COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN
ENERGY CONSERVATION
Energy conservation.
MOTION
PERFORMANCE
ROBOTS
TRANSPORT
VEHICLES