ISSN (Online) 2456-1290

International Journal of Engineering Research in Mechanical and Civil Engineering

(IJERMCE)
Vol 10, Issue 7, July 2023

Design and Analysis of Multi- Terrain Rover

[1]
S. L. Shabareesh, [2]Anush Dev, [3]Aadeesh Jadishkumar, [4]Akshay Raj, [5]Supriya B
[1][2][3][4]
Department of Mechanical Engineering, PES University
[1]
[email protected], [2] [email protected], [3] [email protected], [4] [email protected],
[5]
[email protected]

Abstract— One of the less explored fields of engineering would be rovers for off-roading terrains for military, mining and various
other applications. And when a rover is built keeping such a terrain into consideration the stability and the maneuverability of the rover
and the material subjected to various physical and technical paraments are the key results to look up to. The shift of center of gravity is an
evolution of newtons second law of motion. Designing a rover with power and torque standards pre-defined and incorporating the core
mechanism into it plays hierarchal roles. Hence the project involves developing a mechanism around the same and helping them with
maneuverability opening various realms of possibilities and applications.

Index Terms— Al6092/SiC material, Shift of center of gravity, Stress analysis

Table I: Properties of Al6092/SiC compared to graphite

I. INTRODUCTION and AlSiC
Multi-terrain rover is one kind of multi-functional special
mobile rover, because the work space of this kind of rover is
often on the terrain, no rover needs to have the same loco
motion mechanism as mobile robots. Therefore, it is more
challenging to develop a rover than a mobile rover. Its design
helps it to go through irregular surface with ease, it can be
equipped with thermal cameras, IR sensors and used during
emergencies like search and rescue to reach out to places
where it is impossible or time consuming to reach for a
human being. It can be even used for research purposes and
spy operations due to its small size, strong body and
capabilities of going through any surface.

II. DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS

B. Necessity of Sensors
A. Choice of material and its perks In “Redirection Concept of Autonomous Mobile Robot
Al6092/SiC is been used for the fabrication of the above said HY-SRF05 Sensor to Reduce the Number of Sensors”
rover as this particular metal matrix composite has been Nuryanto et al as specified that the ultrasonic sensor used on
proven to be one of the leading choices for space explorations the robot has a straight forward position so it can detect the
[1] as it has high temperature and fire resistance, Higher obstacles within a 30-degree angle in front of the robot[2],[3],
transverse stiffness and strength, no moisture absorption, which results in a blank area of the sensor between the two
higher thermal and electrical resistance etc as shown in table ultrasonic sensors. When the sensors were tilted the two
I. sensors from a right angle so that the concept of trigonometry
can be applied. This results in the distance from the object to
be the hypotenuse of the right angle formed. The test results
showed the optimum angle of the sensor’s range from 35 to
55 degree and the redirection of the sensors will be reduced
by approximately 42% to the number when the sensors are
placed straight. For the different functionality of the
multi-terrain rover, it must be incorporated with different
sensors which are as follows:
1. Humidity and Temperature sensors
2. Pressure and altitude Sensors
3. Obstacle and Distance sensors
4. Angle or tilt sensor

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 ISSN (Online) 2456-1290
International Journal of Engineering Research in Mechanical and Civil Engineering
(IJERMCE)
Vol 10, Issue 7, July 2023

C. Rover model and Dimensions

The 3D and 2D sketch of the rover was designed using
AutoCAD and after testing the structures on Ansys the
finalized structure is as follows:

Figure 4: side view of the rover along with its dimensions

in millimeters.
And materials used for each part are mentioned in table II.
Table II: Material specification of each part in the rover.

Figure 1: 3D model of rover structure with carriage and

tracks for wheels.
The carriage installed on the rover and its need will be
mentioned in section II.D.

Figure 2 : front view of the rover along with its

dimensions in millimeters.

D. Center of gravity
Shreyas M et al in his paper on “Study on effect of center of
gravity on vehicular acceleration” has mentioned that one of
the most important and dynamic characteristics of a vehicle is
to be stable at high speeds and have high maneuverability at
different conditions. The dynamic characteristics [4].
Any force acting through the center of gravity does not hold
the tendency to make the vehicle rotate. The parameters like
center of mass height, relative to the track, determines the
transfer of load, from side to side and causes body to lean.
The carriage carrying the payload will be placed on the top
portion of the rover and this rover will be moving from and
back along the median of the rover covering a total distance
of 30cms. During at rest or on level plain the carriage will be
at its mean position, i.e. at the geometrical center of the rover
Figure 3: Top view of the rover along with its dimensions
which is to be assumed as co-ordinates (0,0).
in millimeters.

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 ISSN (Online) 2456-1290
International Journal of Engineering Research in Mechanical and Civil Engineering
(IJERMCE)
Vol 10, Issue 7, July 2023

Figure 5: 3D model of the rover where an arrow is

pointing towards the payload carriage.
E. Derivation and working of shift of center of gravity
The total length of the slot for payload moment is 0.3m, so
the distance of extremes from its mean position is r=0.15m.
Let shift of center of gravity be S
1. For a inclination θ:
Let projection of the r on the inclination by r on the horizon
be y.
We get y*cosθ=r
Y=r*secθ
Since S=y-r=r*((secθ)-1) ……equation(1) A servo motor is mounted on both sides of the slot with
2. Similarly for a declination θ: pulley system which spin to certain angle to pull the payload
Following similar procedure, we get based on the signal received by the servo motor from the
S= -r*((secθ)-1) ……………equation(2) connected Arduino set.
Solving auxiliary formula for S from equation(1) &
equation(2) we get F. Rover Motor controls
S = (θ /|"θ"|)*(sec θ -1)*0.15 ………equation(3)
By following basic trigonometric principles, we get the
limits of the angle should be in θ ∈ [- π/3, π/3]
Hence the maximum inclination or declination the rover
can move in is + or – 60 degrees from horizon.

Working:
The angle or tilt sensor is fixed next to the camera
infront the rover and is calibrated to standard horizon as 0
degrees, the angle calculated by the said sensor will be
reported to Arduino set connected to it and that Arduino will
use formula in equation(3) to get the distance to where the
payload must be shifted as shown in Table III.
Table III: Distance moved by the payload from mean
position for different angle of inclination.

Figure 6: TinkerCAD design showing motor control

connections.
As shown in Fig 6 the DC motors are connected to
stepper motor driver board which receives signals from the
Arduino set regarding which motor should move and in
which directions. This Arduino board is connected to a
wireless Bluetooth module which receives signals from a
remote regarding how the rover should move.

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 ISSN (Online) 2456-1290
International Journal of Engineering Research in Mechanical and Civil Engineering
(IJERMCE)
Vol 10, Issue 7, July 2023

III. ANALYSIS
Currently 4 types of batteries are used majorly out of which
only Lithium ion batteries has the highest battery efficiency
while having good cycle life and low discharge rate, even at
high temperature[5] as shown in Table IV.
Table IV: Comparison between leading battery types[5].

The rover model was tested using ANSYS software with

various quantity of load applied on the carriage and other
IV. CONCLUSION
regions, the rover was tested to obtain its safety factor, von
mises stress as well as 1st and 3rd principal stress. The Multi-Terrain Rover is designed based on dynamics and
kinematics of motion which enables it to tackle different
Table IV: Results obtained for various tests performed on kinds of surfaces with ease. Its unique mechanism enables it
the rover model. to balance its inertial forces which tends to pass through the
point of center of gravity which improves its maneuverability
and imporves reachability and hence imporves its
applications. It can be used in various fields for a wide variety
of applications. The materials used for the fabrication of the
rover, Al6092/SiC, being ideal in nature for the rover’s
application. The analysis and simulation reports depict the
extremities of various paramenters which shows a brief idea
of the load capacity and limitations of the rover.

REFERENCES
[1] “Metal-Matrix Composites for Space Applications" Vikas M
B, RanjuPrakash T J, Vivek K, Udaygowda, Volume:6, Issue:
2 April 2018, Global Academy of Technology, Bengaluru,
India
[2] “Redirection Concept of Autonomous Mobile Robot
HY-SRF05 Sensor to Reduce the Number of Sensors”
Nuryanto; Andi Widiyanto; Auliya Burhanuddin, 25
December 2017, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
[3] “The Mars 2020 Engineering Cameras and Microphone on the
Perseverance Rover: A Next-Generation Imaging System for
Mars Exploration” J.N. Maki, D. Gruel, C. McKinney, M.A.
Ravine, M. Morales, D. Lee, R. Willson, D. Copley-Woods, M.
Valvo, T. Goodsall, J. McGuire
[4] "Study on Effect of the Center of Gravity on Vehicular
Acceleration" Shreyas M, Shashank S P, Sayan Surendran,
Gopal Krishna G V, Volume:05, Issue:03 March-2018,
Mysuru city, Karnataka State, India570012
Li-Ion Rechargeable Batteries on Mars Exploration Rovers" B.
V. Ratnakumar, M. C. Smart, L.D. Whitcanack, R. C. Ewell
and S. Surampudi, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California
Institute of Technology, Issue: 24 November 2020