SUMMARY
The development of a new family of robotic vehicles for use in the exploration of Mars and other remote planets is an ongoing process. Current rovers have to traverse rough terrain and be able to withstand various conditions on Mars. The goal of this project is to design a new Mars rover mobility system that performs to optimum capability. This project will involve the design and control of a robot that will use wheels, as well as legs, allowing the user to control which ever mobility option they want, and giving the robot the ability to traverse various terrains. Some of the legged-wheeled robots that currently exist have their wheels attached to an actuator located at the end of the robot leg. When the robot is commanded to walk, the wheel is stationary and the robot actually walks on its wheel. This causes a number of problems that hinders long-term and robust operation in remote environments. For these reasons, a new reconfigurable robot, Byrobot, was developed. This new hybrid legged-wheeled rover possesses a six-legged walking system as well as a four-wheeled mobility system. CAD designing for the hardware of this new robot is first done, and mechanisms and animations are run to test movement of parts. Thorough kinematic analyses are done for both the legged and wheeled mobility systems of the robot. This allows for findings such as the most stable stance and gait for walking the robot, and knowing the location and orientation of the robot in the world coordinate frame for driving and mapping. This new robotic mobility platform will facilitate future Mars exploration.