Static force distribution and orientation control for a rover with an actively articulated suspension system

This paper presents the control strategies used to adapt the actively articulated suspension system of the rover SherpaTT to irregular terrain. Experimental validation of the approach with the physical system is conducted and presented. The coordinated control of the legs constituting the suspension system is encapsulated in a Ground Adaption Process (GAP) that operates independently from high level motion commands. The GAP makes use of force and orientation measurements to control the suspension system with 20 active degrees of freedom. The active suspension is used to achieve multi-objective terrain adaption encompassing (i) active force distribution at the wheel-ground contact points, (ii) keeping all wheels in permanent ground contact, and (iii) body orientation w.r.t. gravity.

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