IMPASS: Intelligent Robot with Mobility Platform with Active Spoke System

IMPASS (Intelligent Mobility Platform with Active Spoke System) is a novel high mobility locomotion platform for unmanned systems in unstructured environments. Utilizing rimless wheels with individually actuated spokes, it can follow the contour of uneven surfaces like tracks and step over large obstacles like legged vehicles while retaining the simplicity of wheels. Since it lacks the complexity of legs and has a large effective (wheel) diameter, this highly adaptive system can move over extreme terrain with ease while maintaining respectable travel speeds, and thus has great potential for search-and-rescue missions, scientific exploration, and anti-terror response applications.

IMPASS Intelligent Mobility Platform with Active Spoke System
Principal Investigator	Dr. Dennis Hong
Researchers	Ping Ren Ya Wang Blake Jeans
Mechanical Details
DOF	9
Motors	Escap Maxon
Controllers	AllMotion EZSV10 AllMotion EZSV23
Sensors	Foot Touch Sensors (12x)
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Goals and Objectives

• Classification for topology structures of IMPASS based on different ground contact points
• Mobility analysis for different configuration cases, using both conventional and screw-based modified Grubler and Katzbachcriterion
• Inverse and forward position analysis for the critical topology scheme of IMPASS
• Singularity configuration identify and investigation using screw theory
• Screw-based Jacobian analysis
• Develop 2D and 3D motion planning strategies in unstructured terrain for both terrain sensing and non-terrain sensing configurations
• Verify motion planning strategies in simulation and experimentally
• Advance the capabilities of the hardware platform, including a moving center of gravity, onboard computer and power, and rugged body and components
• Develop accurate and dependable perception units for terrain sensing and object recognition, including laser range finders and cameras

Publications

1. Laney, D. and Hong, D.W.,”Kinematic Analysis of a Novel Rimless Wheel with Independently Actuated Spokes”, 29th ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, Long Beach, California, September 24-28, 2005.
2. Hong. D.W. and Laney, D., “Preliminary Design and Kinematic Analysis of  a Mobility Platform with Two Actuated Spoke Wheels”, US-Korea Conference on Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship (UKC 2006), Mechanical Engineering & Robotics Symposium, Teaneck, New Jersey, August 10-13, 2006.
3. Laney, D. and Hong, D.W., “Three-Dimensional Kinematic Analysis of the Actuated Spoke Wheel Robot”. 30th ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 10-13, 2006.
4. Wang, Y., Ren, P., Hong, D.W." Mobility and geometrical analysis of a twoactuated spoke wheel robot modeled as a mechanism with variable topology",32ndASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, August 6-9, 2008, Brooklyn, New York,United States
5. Ren, P., Wang, Y., Hong, D.W." Three-dimensional Kinematic Analysis of a TwoActuated Spoke Wheel Robot Based on its Equivalency to a Serial Manipulator",32ndASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference,August 6-9, 2008, Brooklyn, New York,United States
6. Wang, Y., Ren, P., Hong, D.W." Gait and Gait Transition for a Robot with TwoActuated Spoke Wheels",33rd ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, August30-September 2, 2009,San Diego, California, United States
7. 2005 ASME Freudenstein/General Motors Young Investigator Award