CoMoRAT: a configurable all terrain mobile robot

With the encouraging support coming from various funding agencies and increasing potential of mobile robot use in our daily lives, research in this field has been on the rise during last two decades. Areas of possible applications being vast, researchers feel the need for robots of different capabilities and size. Despite the wide spectrum of applications developed for mobile robots, mobile platforms available on the market for research purposes have been very few in number, and very limited in their capability for multi-purpose use. However, for many researchers, purchasing a new robot for different applications is not a realistic alternative. The research presented in this paper is driven with the urge of creating a modular mobile platform that is suitable for wide range of applications. Ease of installing new payload and ability to ride on wheels, tracks or both are the major design requirements. The developed robot is referred to as CoMoRAT (Configurable Mobile Robot for All Terrain Applications). The robot's design process and performance tests run on the manufactured platform are introduced in this paper.