Design, Analysis and Control of a Wheeled Mobile Robot with a Nonholonomic Spherical CVT

This article reports on the design, analysis and control of a new type of wheeled mobile robot based on a nonholonomic spherical continuously variable transmission (S-CVT). Our S-CVT based mobile robot is designed to increase the run time (i.e., the length of time in which the robot can be operated), and to achieve full planar accessibility with the design of a novel pivoting device that takes advantage of the flexibility of the S-CVT. We examine the sources of power loss in the S-CVT, in particular spin loss. For a quantitative analysis of spin loss of the S-CVT, we develop a friction model for the S-CVT, and perform an in-depth contact analysis based on the relative velocity field and normal pressure distribution. We also present a nonlinear shifting controller based on feedback linearization that takes into account the dynamics of the S-CVT. To evaluate the energy efficiency of our mobile robot and the performance of the S-CVT as a machine element, we perform experiments with a hardware prototype. The results are benchmarked numerically with a differential drive type mobile robot equipped with a reduction gear. KEY WORDS—continuously variable transmission, spin loss, feedback linearization, mobile robot