Locomotion Systems for Land-based Mobile Robots

Abstract

Land-based mobile robots (LBMR) are expected to be rabidly deployed worldwide with massive market sales owing to significant applications in modern and future life sectors such as industry, agriculture, security, health, and environment protection. However, this vital technology is critically affected by the locomotion over unstructured soft or rough terrain environments with different types of static and dynamic obstacles. This work investigates the existing wheeled, tracked, and leg-based locomotion techniques for LBMR applications and proposed solutions under unstructured environment conditions. These primary locomotion schemes are evaluated based on the achieved speed, ability to cross or mitigate obstacles, climb stairs/steps/slopes, move over soft, rough, or rocky terrain, energy efficiency, mechanical complexity, and technological readiness. Additionally, the hybrid categories that can be created by mixing the primary locomotion mechanisms are discussed with an insightful vision of future directions.