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Computer Engineering

Western University

2012

Energy Estimation

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System Of Terrain Analysis, Energy Estimation And Path Planning For Planetary Exploration By Robot Teams, David C. Michel Dec 2012

System Of Terrain Analysis, Energy Estimation And Path Planning For Planetary Exploration By Robot Teams, David C. Michel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

NASA’s long term plans involve a return to manned moon missions, and eventually sending humans to mars. The focus of this project is the use of autonomous mobile robotics to enhance these endeavors. This research details the creation of a system of terrain classification, energy of traversal estimation and low cost path planning for teams of inexpensive and potentially expendable robots.

The first stage of this project was the creation of a model which estimates the energy requirements of the traversal of varying terrain types for a six wheel rocker-bogie rover. The wheel/soil interaction model uses Shibly’s modified Bekker equations …