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System Overview: Design Philosophy

The document provides an overview of the design philosophy and components for a rover system. It emphasizes an iterative design process, balanced approach to capability vs other factors, and design for manufacturability. It then discusses the frame requirements of being modular, weatherproof, lightweight and vibration resistant, suggesting aluminium extrusions as a design direction. Suspension requirements include handling slopes and drops, listing sheet metal and tube/lug designs. The drive system section covers motors/drivers, batteries and wheel options. The manipulator section lists lifting capacity, accuracy and removability as requirements. Electronics discussed include navigation systems, video systems and wireless communication for control, telemetry and video feed.

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Jack Monahan
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41 views8 pages

System Overview: Design Philosophy

The document provides an overview of the design philosophy and components for a rover system. It emphasizes an iterative design process, balanced approach to capability vs other factors, and design for manufacturability. It then discusses the frame requirements of being modular, weatherproof, lightweight and vibration resistant, suggesting aluminium extrusions as a design direction. Suspension requirements include handling slopes and drops, listing sheet metal and tube/lug designs. The drive system section covers motors/drivers, batteries and wheel options. The manipulator section lists lifting capacity, accuracy and removability as requirements. Electronics discussed include navigation systems, video systems and wireless communication for control, telemetry and video feed.

Uploaded by

Jack Monahan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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System overview

Design Philosophy

Iterative design process


o Continuous improvement
o Start small and build up
o Fail quickly and fail often
Balanced approach towards capability
o Weigh capability against reliability, cost and time
o Keep realistic expectations
Design for manufacturability and repair
o Tailor design to available manufacturing options
o Modular design to enable quick repair and maintenance

Robustness

Ruggedness

Reliability

Rover
Rover Mechanics
Frame
Requirements

Modular
o Design will change several times and the frame should be easily reconfigurable
Weatherproof
o To protect electronics inside from dust, dirt and water
Lightweight
o Most teams have rovers weighing just below 50kg after taking weight saving measures
Strong & vibration resistant
o Has to carry about 50kg loads across bumpy terrain without shaking loose

Possible Design Directions

Aluminium
Extrusions
Standard
aluminium
profiles and
connectors to
assemble frame
Very modular &
reconfigurable

Sheet Metal
Bent sheet metal
parts
Requires access
to sheet metal
tools

Composites
Lightweight frame
made from
composite
materials

Requires access
to composite
supplies and tools

Figure 1 - A frame that uses standard aluminium profiles (QSET)


Using aluminium extrusions is preferred for our application since it meets all the requirements.
Aluminium extrusions are cheap, light weight and can be cut to length using a standard bandsaw (uni
has a few). The ability to be reconfigured and changed rapidly together with being able to use them inhouse without having to rely on an external company or a sponsor makes them a better choice for us.

Suspension
Requirements

Slopes > 45 deg


Vertical drops > 0.5 m
Assorted rocks and dirt

Possible Design Directions

Sheet Metal
Assembled from flat
sheet metal parts
Requires access to
laser, water jet or
plasma cutter

Tube and Lug


Machined or 3D
printed lugs with
standard tubes
connecting them
CF tubes for light
weight requires
sponsorship

Figure 2 - Sheet metal suspension construction (Wisconsin URC)

Figure 3 - A bicycle frame assembled from CF tubes and 3D printed lugs

Drive System

Motors and Drivers


o DC motor with planetary gearbox
o BLDC motor
o Stepper motor
o Encoder is preferable (not essential)
Batteries
o Li-Po
o Voltage and capacity depends on motor/driver
Wheels
o Commercial off the shelf (COTS) wheels
o Custom made wheels
Possibly superior performance
Better integration
Requires design and manufacturing time
Cost about the same

Manipulator
Requirements

Lifting capacity > 5 kg


Accuracy not an issue
Multiple end effectors (drill, gripper, etc)
Possibly removable does it have to be there for the navigation task???

Design considerations

DOF selection
Structural approach (sheet metal, tubes, profiles, etc)
Actuator selection (linear actuators, DC motors, stepper motors)
Sensors and instruments

Rover Electronics
Navigation system

GPS
o RTK GPS has become more affordable, but still couple hundred pounds
IMU
o Accelerometer, gyro, magnetometer, barometer
Computer vision
LIDAR
o Starts at about 1000
Ultrasonic crash detection

Video system

Main camera
o Cameras used by drivers for teleoperation tasks
o Possibly stabilized on a gimbal
o Pan and Tilt functionality a plus
Arm camera
o Used for equipment servicing and science tasks
o Can be pointed anywhere using the arm
o Panoramas can be created by having the arm do a sweep
Navigation cameras
o Possibly one or two cameras used for autonomous navigation
o The details of the autonomous navigation task need to be clarified

Wireless communication

Control
o Used to control the robot
o Can be implemented as a part of other wireless system or separate
Telemetry
o Feed sensor data and robot state information to the operator
o Necessary for the driver to have feedback about the robot

o Can be implemented as a part of other wireless system or separate


Video feed
o One-way video feed from the robot to the base station
o Lag might be an issue
o Possibly a separate system, such as an IP camera

Rover Software

Base station

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