A Mini Project Report on

DESIGNE AND FABRICATION OF ROCKER-BOGIE

MECHANISM

Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the award of the degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

IN

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
NAME ROLL NO

BIRENDRA KUMAR PANDIT 13MH1A03B5

MUTHAYAM SUBARMANYAM 13MH1A0357

NAGAVARAPU GOPI 13MH1A0359

SAGI LIKHIT VARMA 13MH1A0387

NALLAMILLI AYYAPPA REEDY 13MH1A0362

Under the esteemed guidance of

JAGANADHAM RAO SIR

Assistant professor

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ADITYA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING 2013-2017

1
 ADITYA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
(Approved by AICTE and Affilicated to JNT University, Kakinada)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project work entitled “DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF
ROCKER-BOGIE MECHANISM” is being submitted by
NAME ROLL NO

BIRENDRA KUMAR PANDIT 13MH1A03B5

MUTHAYAM SUBARMANYAM 13MH1A0357

NAGAVARAPU GOPI 13MH1A0359

SAGI LIKHIT VARMA 13MH1A0387

NALLAMILLI AYYAPPA REEDY 13MH1A0362

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of B.Tech in
Mechanical Engineering of Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University, Kakinada during
the Academic year 2013-2017.

PROJECT GUIDE Head of the Department

S. RAMBABU M.Tech Y.K.S.SUBBARAO M.Tech (Phd

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

2
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We take great pleasure to express our deep sense of gratitude to our project guide
Sri. JAGANADHAM RAO SIR, Assistant Professor, for his valuable guidance during the
course our projectwork.

We would like to thank Sri Y.K.S.SUBBARAO, Associate Head of the

Department of Mechanical Engineering for his encouragement.

We also express our thanks to our beloved principal professor A.RAMESH, for
his cooperation in completing our project.

Finally, we express our our thanks to our department faculty, lab assistants,
library staff and another men who are directly or indirectly involved incompleting this
project.

OUR PROJECT MEMMBER

NAME ROLL NO

BIRENDRA KUMAR PANDIT 13MH1A03B5

MUTHAYAM SUBARMANYAM 13MH1A0357

NAGAVARAPU GOPI 13MH1A0359

SAGI LIKHIT VARMA 13MH1A0387

NALLAMILLI AYYAPPA REEDY 13MH1A0362

3
ABSTRACT

4
 INDEX

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1. DESIGN
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 COMPONENTS OF ROCKE-BOGIE MECHANISM
3.1.1 WHEEL

3.1.2 GEAR MOTOR

3.1.3 ROCKER-FRAME

3.1.4 BOGIE-FRAME

3.1.5 NUT, BOLT AND ROD

3.1.6 WIRE

3.1.7 TOGGLE SWITCHE AND CONECTION

3.1.8 BATERRY

3.1.9 DC MOTOR CONTORL SYSTEM

3.1.10 MOTOR WIRE CONECTION TO BATTERY

5
 3.2 FIBER CUTTING PROCESS

3.2.1 ASSEMBLY ALL PARTS

3.2.2 ANALYSING SPPED

3.2.3 FLIXBLITY OF ROCKER-BOGIE MECHANISM

4. CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING PRINCIPLE

5. CONTROLING

8. RESULTS

9. CONCLUSION

10. REFERENCE

6
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

The Rocker-Bogie Mobility system was designed to be used at slow speeds. It is capable of
overcoming obstacles that are on the order of the size of a wheel. However, when
surmounting a sizable obstacle, the vehicles motion effectively stops while the front wheel
climbs the obstacle. When operating at low speed (greater than 10cm/second), dynamic
shocks are minimized when this happens. For many future planetary missions, rovers will
have to operate at human level speeds (~1m/second). Shocks resulting from the impact of the
front wheel against an obstacle could damage the payload or the vehicle. This paper describes
a method of driving a rocker-bogie vehicle so that it can effectively step over most obstacles
rather than impacting and climbing over them. Most of the benefits of this method can be
achieved without any mechanical modification to existing designs – only a change in control
strategy. Some mechanical changes are suggested to gather the maximum benefit and to
greatly increase the effective operational speed of future rovers.
The Rocker-Bogie mechanism idea and application
One of the major shortcomings of current planetary rovers is that they are slow. In order to be
able to overcome significantly rough terrain (i.e., obstacles more than a few percent of wheel
radius) without significant risk of flipping the vehicle or damaging the suspension, these
robots move slowly and climb over the obstacles by having wheels lift each piece of the
suspension over the obstacle one portion at a time
. NASA’s currently favored design, the rocker-bogie , uses a two
wheeled rocker arm on a passive pivot Design a robotic vehicle capable of performing
tasks for a sample return mission within the parameters and requirements of the University
Rover Challenge.attached to a main bogie that is connected differentially to the main bogie
on the other side.

The rocker-bogie suspension mechanism which is currently NASA’s approved design for
wheeled mobile robots, mainly because it has sturdy or resilient capabilities to deal with
obstacles and because it uniformly distributes the payload over its 6 wheels at all times. It also
can be used for other purposes to operate in rough roads and to climb the steps. It is having lots
of advantages but one of the major disadvantages is the rotation of the mechanism when and
where is required. The rotation can be possible by providing individual motors to

7
individual wheels which causes arise in cost and complicacy in design. Here an attempt is
made to modify the existing design by incorporating a gear type steering mechanism
which will be operated by a single motor which simplifies the design as well as the total
cost and operating cost of the mechanism

The rocker bogie mechanism is one of the most popular linkage mechanisms, which was
initially designed for space travel vehicles having its own deep history embedded in its
development. By construction it is a wheel robot which comprises of 6 actuated wheels. The
term “rocker” describes the rocking aspect of the larger links present each side of the
suspension system and these rockers are connected to each other and the vehicle chassis
through a selectively modified differential in order to balance the bogie.
By construction it has main frame containing two linkages on each side that are called the
“rocker” (see Figure 1). One end of the rocker is connected to the rear wheel, and the other
end is connected to a small
To maintain centre of gravity of entire vehicle as accordance with the motion, when one
rocker moves down-word, the other goes upward (Figure 1). The chassis plays vital role to
maintain the average pitch angle of both rockers by allowing both rockers to move as per
the situation. As per the acute design, one end of a rocker is fitted with a drive wheel and the
other end is pivoted to a bogie which provides required motion and degree of freedom.

Encounter area of rocker bogie suspension system

8
In the system, “bogie” refers to the conjoining links that have a drive wheel attached at
each end.
Each of the front wheels is connected to the gears at their horizontal shaft. The body contains
one motor at the lower side. The motor shaft is connected to the master gear. The gears are
connected to the wheel gears with the help of idler . The motor can be controlled by the help
of micro controller or directly. Here it is connected to a cable and the cable is connected to a
control panel. Whenever it is required to have the turn of the mechanism then the controller
in the control panel will be operated which in turn will rotate the motor. The master gear
connected to the motor will also rotate with the motor. As the idlers are connected to the
motor they will rotate in the opposite direction to the rotation of motor. The wheel gears
connected the idler will also rotate along with this which will enable to rotate the wheels in
the required direction. Here the idlers are incorporated to avoid the confusion of operation.
This enables the operator to get sure that if the controller is rotated clock wise the
mechanism will also rotate clock wise and vice

Fig 2 Line diagram of Rocker-bogie suspension system and its motile joints)

Line diagram of Rocker-bogie suspension system and its motile joints)

Bogies were commonly used to bare loading as tracks of army tanks as idlers
distributing the load over the terrain. Bogies were also quite commonly used on the trailers of
semi-trailer trucks as that very time the trucks will have to carry much heavier load

9
Literature Review

The The initiation of rocker bogie suspension system can be traced to the development of
planetary rover which are mobile robots, especially designed to move on a planet surface.
Early rovers were tele-operated like the Lunokhod I while recent ones are fully autonomous,
such as FIDO, Discovery and recently developed Curiosity mars exploration rover. The
rovers needed to be very robust and reliable, as it has to withstand dust, strong winds,
corrosion and large temperature changes under mysterious conditions. Maximum rovers
remain powered by batteries which are recharged by solar panels during the day installed
over there surface. The locomotion system of rovers remains crucial to enable it to reach
objective sites, conduct research, and collect data and to position itself according to the
demand. There are three main types of rover locomotion developed so far i.e. wheeled,
legged and caterpillar locomotion. The main difference between the miscellaneous designs of
planetary robots lies in the type of locomotion system. Even after developing many legged
and hybrid robots, most researchers still focus on wheeled locomotion for rovers because of
its locomotive ease and advantages and among wheeled locomotion design, the rocker bogie
suspension system based design remain most favoured. The ancient FIDO rover and the
Sojourner contain 6 independently steered and driven wheels suspended from a rocker-bogie
mechanism for maximum suspension and ground clearance. Rocky Seven Rover has a
similar suspension system just differ in front wheels. The Nanorover & Nomad Rovers have
four steered wheels suspended from two bogies & CRAB Rover utilizes two parallel bogie
mechanisms on each side to overcome obstacles and large holes. As far as the initial research
is concerned, the software optimization seeks for an optimum in the constrained solution
space given an initial solution and Dr. Li et al. derive a mathematical model to generalize
rover suspension parameters which define the geometry of the rocker-bogie system. The
objective behind evolution of rocker bogie suspension system is to develop a system which
minimizes the energy consumption, the vertical displacement of the rover’s centre of mass
and its pitch angle. In this research, our endeavour is to transfer these major advantages
embedded with the rocker bogie system into conventional vehicles in order to remove
discomfort and complexities present in conventional suspension system in general and
suspension system of heavy vehicles in particular.

Principle

The rocker-bogie design consisting of no springs and stub axles in each wheel which allows
the chassis to climb over any obstacles, such as rocks, ditches, sand, etc. that are up to double
the wheel's diameter in size while keeping all wheels on the ground maximum time. As
compared to any suspension system, the tilt stability is limited by the height of the centre of
gravity and the proposed system has the same Systems employing springs tend to tip more
easily as the loaded side yields during obstacle course. Dependent upon the centre of overall
weight, any vehicle developed on the basis of Rocker bogie suspension can withstand a tilt of
at least 50 degrees in any direction without overturning which is the biggest advantage for
any heavy loading vehicle. The system is designed to be implemented in low speed working

10
vehicles such as heavy trucks, Bulldozers which works at slow speed of around 10
centimetres per second (3.9 in/s) so as to minimize dynamic shocks and consequential
damage to the vehicle when surmounting sizable obstacles

Methodology

As per the research it is find that the rocker bogie system reduces the motion by half
compared to other suspension systems because each of the bogie's six wheels has an
independent mechanism for motion and in which the two front and two rear wheels have
individual steering systems which allow the vehicle to turn in place as 0 degree turning ratio.
Every wheel also has thick cleats which provides grip for climbing in soft sand and
scrambling over rocks with ease. In order to overcome vertical obstacle faces, the front
wheels are forced against the obstacle by the centre and rear wheels which generate
maximum required torque. The rotation of the front wheel then lifts the front of the vehicle
up and over the obstacle and obstacle overtaken. Those wheels which remain in the middle, is
then pressed against the obstacle by the rear wheels and pulled against the obstacle by the
front till the time it is lifted up and over. At last, the rear wheel is pulled over the obstacle by
the front two wheels due to applying pull force. During each wheel's traversal of the obstacle,
forward progress of the vehicle is slowed or completely halted which finally maintain
vehicles centre of gravity. The above said methodology is being practically proved by
implementing it on eight wheel drive ATV system in order to gain maximum advantage by
rocker bogie system.

Observation

A The main problem associated with current suspension systems installed in heavy loading
vehicles rovers (including those with active and semi active suspension systems) is their slow
speed of motion which derail the rythem to absorb the shocks generated by wheels which
remain the result of two factors. First, in order to pass over obstacles the vehicle must be
geared down significantly to allow for enough torque to raise the mass of the vehicle.
Consequently, this reduces overall speed which cannot be tolerated in the case of heavy
loading vehicles. Second, if the vehicle is travelling at a high speed and encounters an
obstacle (height greater than 10 percent of wheel radius), there will be a large shock
transmitted through the chassis which could damage the suspension or tapple down the entire
vehicle. That is why current heavy loading vehicles travel at a velocity of 10cm/s through
uneven terrain. The software based testing of rocker bogie suspension system describes the
momentum and efficiency related utilities in cumulative manner

11
12
 CHAPTER 2
DESIGN

In design, we are design in slodworks

FRAME

WHEEL

NUT

BOLT

ETC…of rocker-bogie mechanism component

13
FRAME ROCKER-BOGIE MECHANISM

14
WHEEL

CHAPTER 3
15
 LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 COMPONENTS OF ROCKE-BOGIE MECHANISM
WHEEL
GEAR MOTOR

ROCKER-FRAME

BOGIE-FRAME

NUT, BOLT AND ROD

WIRE

TOGGLE SWITCHE

BATERRY

16
 3.1.1 WHEEL

Wheel is simple and mad from plastic only and hard fiber

17
3.1.2 GEAR MOTOR

18
How a Gear Motor Works
A gear motor is a specific type of electrical motor that is designed to produce high torque
while maintaining a low horsepower, or low speed, motor output. Gear motors can be found
in many different applications, and are probably used in many devices in your home.

Gear motors are commonly used in devices such as can openers, garage door openers,
washing machine time control knobs and even electric alarm clocks. Common commercial
applications of a gear motor include hospital beds, commercial jacks, cranes and many
other applications that are too many to list.

Basic Principles of Operation

A gear motor can be either an AC (alternating current) or a DC (direct current) electric motor.
Most gear motors have an output of between about 1,200 to 3,600 revolutions per minute
(RPMs). These types of motors also have two different speed specifications: normal speed
and the stall-speed torque specifications.

Gear motors are primarily used to reduce speed in a series of gears, which in turn creates
more torque. This is accomplished by an integrated series of gears or a gear box being
attached to the main motor rotor and shaft via a second reduction shaft. The second shaft is
then connected to the series of gears or gearbox to create what is known as a series of
reduction gears. Generally speaking, the longer the train of reduction gears, the lower the
output of the end, or final, gear will be.

An excellent example of this principle would be an electric time clock (the type that uses
hour, minute and second hands). The synchronous AC motor that is used to power the time
clock will usually spin the rotor at around 1500 revolutions per minute. However, a series
of reduction gears is used to slow the movement of the hands on the clock.

For example, while the rotor spins at about 1500 revolutions per minute, the reduction gears
allow the final secondhand gear to spin at only one revolution per minute. This is what allows
the secondhand to make one complete revolution per minute on the face of the clock.

Gear Motors and Increased Force

Gear motors are commonly used in commercial applications where a piece of
equipment needs to be able to exert a high amount of force in order to move a very
heavy object. Examples of these types of equipment would include a crane or lift Jack.

If you've ever seen a crane in action, you've seen a great example of how a gear motor works.
As you have probably noticed, a crane can be used to lift and move very heavy objects. The
electric motor used in most cranes is a type of gear motor that uses the basic principles of
speed reduction to increase torque or force.

Gear motors used in cranes are usually specialty types that use a very low rotational output
speed to create incredible amounts of torque. However, the principles of the gear motor
used in a crane are exactly the same as those used in the example electric time clock. The
output speed of the rotor is reduced through a series of large gears until the rotating, RPM
speed, of the final gear is very low. The low RPM speed helps to create a high amount of
force which can be used to lift and move the heavy objects.

19
 3.1.3 ROCKER-FRAME

The rocker-bogie design has no springs or stub axles for each wheel, allowing the rover to
climb over obstacles, such as rocks, that are up to twice the wheel's diameter in size while
keeping all six wheels on the ground. As with any suspension system, the tilt stability is
limited by the height of the center of gravity. Systems using springs tend to tip more easily as
the loaded side yields. Based on the center of mass, the Curiosity rover of the Mars Science
Laboratory mission can withstand a tilt of at least 45 degrees in any direction without
[5]
overturning, but automatic sensors limit the rover from exceeding 30-degree tilts. The
system is designed to be used at slow speed of around 10 centimetres per second (3.9 in/s) so
as to minimize dynamic shocks and consequential damage to the vehicle when surmounting
sizable obstacles.
JPL states that this rocker bogie system reduces the motion of the main MER vehicle body by
half compared to other suspension systems. Each of the rover's six wheels has an independent
motor. The two front and two rear wheels have individual steering motors which allow the
vehicle to turn in place. Each wheel also has cleats, providing grip for climbing in soft sand
and scrambling over rocks. The maximum speed of the robots operated in this way is limited
to eliminate as many dynamic effects as possible so that the motors can be geared down, thus
enabling each wheel to individually lift a large portion of the entire vehicle's mass.

In order to go over a vertical obstacle face, the front wheels are forced against the obstacle by the
center and rear wheels. The rotation of the front wheel then lifts the front of the vehicle up and
over the obstacle. The middle wheel is then pressed against the obstacle by the rear wheels and
pulled against the obstacle by the front until it is lifted up and over. Finally, the rear wheel is
pulled over the obstacle by the front two wheels. During each wheel's traversal of the obstacle,
forward progress of the vehicle is slowed or completely halted. This is not an issue for the
operational speeds at which these vehicles have been operated to date.
One of the future applications of rovers will be to assist astronauts during surface
operations. To be a useful assistant, the rover will need to be able to move much faster than
human walking speed or at least equivalent. Other missions which have been proposed, such
as t, require even greater speeds (4–10 km/h).

20
 3.1.4 BOGIE-FRAME

The term “bogie” refers to the links that have a drive wheel at each end. Bogies were commonly
used as load wheels in the tracks of army tanks as idlers distributing the load over the
terrain. Bogies were also quite commonly used on the trailers of semi trailer trucks. Both
applications now prefer trailing arm suspensions.

The rocker-bogie system is the suspension arrangement used in the Mars

rovers (mechanical robot) introduced for the Mars Pathfinderand also used on the Mars
Exploration Rover (MER) and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) missions.[1][2][3] It is
currently NASA's favored design.[4]
The term “rocker” comes from the rocking aspect of the larger links [clarification needed] on each side of
the suspension system. These rockers are connected to each other and the vehicle chassis
through a differential. Relative to the chassis, when one rocker goes up, the other goes down.
The chassis maintains the average pitch angle of both rockers. One end of a rocker is fitted with
a drive wheel and the other end is pivoted to a bogie.

21
 3.1.5 NUT, BOLT AND ROD

A nut is a type of fastener with a threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used in conjunction
with a mating bolt to fasten two or more parts together. The two partners are kept together
by a combination of their threads' friction, a slight stretching of the bolt, and compression of
the parts to be held together.

This use for flexibility connecting with rocker and bogie link

22
3.1.6 TOGGLE SWICHES

In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can break an electrical

[1][2]
circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The
mechanism of a switch may be operated directly by a human operator to control a circuit (for
example, a light switch or a keyboard button), may be operated by a moving object such as a
door-operated switch, or may be operated by some sensing element for pressure, temperature
or flow. A relay is a switch that is operated by electricity. Switches are made to handle a wide
range of voltages and currents; very large switches may be used to isolate high-voltage
circuits in electrical substations.

23
CHAPTER 4.

CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING PRINCIPLE

The rocker bogie suspension system, which was specifically designed for space exploration
vehicles have deep history embedded in its development. The term “rocker” describes the
rocking aspect of the larger links present each side of the suspension system and balance the
bogie as these rockers are connected to each other and the vehicle chassis through a
selectively modified differential. Fig: encounter area of rocker bogie suspension system. As
accordance with the motion to maintain centre of gravity of entire vehicle, when one rocker
moves up-word, the other goes down. The chassis plays vital role to maintain the average
pitch angle of both rockers by allowing both rockers to move as per the situation. As per the
acute design, one end of a rocker is fitted with a drive wheel and the other end is pivoted to
a bogie which provides required motion and degree of freedom. Design analysis of Rocker
Bogie Suspension System and Access the possibility.

24
Fig: 2D Line diagram of Rocker-bogie suspension system and its motile joints. In the system,
“bogie” refers to the conjoining links that have a drive wheel attached at each end. Bogies
were commonly used to bare loading as tracks of army tanks as idlers distributing the load
over the terrain. Bogies were also quite commonly used on the trailers of semi trailer trucks
as that very time the trucks will have to carry much heavier load.
II. Literature Review

The The initiation of rocker bogie suspension system can be traced to the development of
planetary rover which are mobile robots, especially designed to move on a planet surface.
Early rovers were tele-operated like the Lunokhod I while recent ones are fully autonomous,
such as FIDO, Discovery and recently developed Curiosity mars exploration rover. The
rovers needed to be very robust and reliable, as it has to withstand dust, strong winds,
corrosion and large temperature changes under mysterious conditions. Maximum rovers
remain powered by batteries which are recharged by solar panels during the day installed
over there surface. The locomotion system of rovers remains crucial to enable it to reach
objective sites, conduct research, and collect data and to position itself according to the
demand. There are three main types of rover locomotion developed so far i.e. wheeled,
legged and caterpillar locomotion. The main difference between the miscellaneous designs of
planetary robots lies in the type of locomotion system. Even after developing many legged
and hybrid robots, most researchers still focus on wheeled locomotion for rovers because of
its locomotive ease and advantages and among wheeled locomotion design, the rocker bogie
suspension system based design remain most favoured. The ancient FIDO rover and the
Sojourner contain 6 independently steered and driven wheels suspended from a rocker-bogie
mechanism for maximum suspension and ground clearance. Rocky Seven Rover has a
similar suspension system just differ in front wheels. The Nanorover & Nomad Rovers have
four steered wheels suspended from two bogies & CRAB Rover utilizes two parallel bogie
mechanisms on each side to overcome obstacles and large holes. As far as the initial research
is concerned, the software optimization seeks for an optimum in the constrained solution
space given an initial solution and Dr. Li et al. derive a mathematical model to generalize
rover suspension parameters which define the geometry of the rocker-bogie system. The
objective behind evolution of rocker bogie suspension system is to develop a system which
minimizes the energy consumption, the vertical displacement of the rover’s centre of mass
and its pitch angle. In this research, our endeavour is to transfer these major advantages
embedded with the rocker bogie system into conventional vehicles in order to remove
discomfort and complexities present in conventional suspension system in general and

suspension system of heavy vehicles in particular.

25
III. Principle

The rocker-bogie design consisting of no springs and stub axles in each wheel which allows
the chassis to climb over any obstacles, such as rocks, ditches, sand, etc. that are up to
double the wheel's diameter in size while keeping all wheels on the ground maximum time.
As compared to any suspension system, the tilt stability is limited by the height of the centre
of gravity and the proposed system has the same. Fig: SOLIDWORKS 3D Model of
Rocker Bogie system. Design analysis of Rocker Bogie Suspension System

26
Systems employing springs tend to tip more easily as the loaded side yields during obstacle
course. Dependent upon the centre of overall weight, any vehicle developed on the basis of
Rocker bogie suspension can withstand a tilt of at least 50 degrees in any direction without
overturning which is the biggest advantage for any heavy loading vehicle. The system is
designed to be implemented in low speed working vehicles such as heavy trucks, Bulldozers
which works at slow speed of around 10 centimetres per second (3.9 in/s) so as to minimize
dynamic shocks and consequential damage to the vehicle when surmounting sizable
obstacles.
IV. Methodology

As per the research it is find that the rocker bogie system reduces the motion by half
compared to other suspension systems because each of the bogie's six wheels has an
independent mechanism for motion and in which the two front and two rear wheels have
individual steering systems which allow the vehicle to turn in place as 0 degree turning ratio.
Every wheel also has thick cleats which provides grip for climbing in soft sand and
scrambling over rocks with ease. In order to overcome vertical obstacle faces, the front
wheels are forced against the obstacle by the centre and rear wheels which generate
maximum required torque. The rotation of the front wheel then lifts the front of the vehicle
up and over the obstacle and obstacle overtaken. Those wheels which remain in the middle, is
then pressed against the obstacle by the rear wheels and pulled against the obstacle by the
front till the time it is lifted up and over. At last, the rear wheel is pulled over the obstacle by
the front two wheels due to applying pull force. During each wheel's traversal of the obstacle,
forward progress of the vehicle is slowed or completely halted which finally maintain
vehicles centre of gravity. The above said methodology is being practically proved by
implementing it on eight wheel drive ATV system in order to gain maximum advantage by
rocker bogie system.
V. Observation

A The main problem associated with current suspension systems installed in heavy loading
vehicles rovers (including those with active and semi active suspension systems) is their slow
speed of motion which derail the rythem to absorb the shocks generated by wheels which
remain the result of two factors. First, in order to pass over obstacles the vehicle must be
geared down significantly to allow for enough torque to raise the mass of the vehicle.
Consequently, this reduces overall speed which cannot be tolerated in the case of heavy
loading vehicles. Second, if the vehicle is travelling at a high speed and encounters an
obstacle (height greater than 10 percent of wheel radius), there will be a large shock
transmitted through the chassis which could damage the suspension or tapple down the entire
vehicle. That is why current heavy loading vehicles travel at a velocity of 10cm/s through
uneven terrain. The software based testing of rocker bogie suspension system describes the
momentum and efficiency related utilities in cumulative manner. Fig: Geometry of Rocker
Bogie. After optimizing the ground profile it can be assumed that each of the rocker working
with specified angle of inclination α, but can be changed by the users demand. The Genetic
Algorithm requires evaluates of the fitness of each arm in the population and therefore
justifies the goodness of each of these specific combinations of link lengths and variable
angles of the rocker-bogie suspension mechanism. For better observation and analysis, a 3D
model of Rocker bogie system installed in ATV is developed and simulated. The generated
results are shown below.

27
The desire to create a suspension that efficiently absorbs energy leads to structural members
that are
thin walled box beams. A box beam design is a mass efficient geometry for components
subjected to both
bending and torsional loads. The beams are also tapered wherever possible to increase
mass savings.
Based on these desired design features, the fabrication method selected to create the members
was
electron beam welding. The use of welding in the space industry is usually reserved only for
propulsion
tanks and tubing due to fears of poor workmanship and difficulty of inspection. Propulsion
subsystems
can be pressure tested to verify weld integrity. Spacecraft structure, on the other hand, does
not typically
lend itself to such proof loading methods. Because of these potential complexities,
other alternative
avenues of manufacturing were investigated, the most promising of which was
investment casting.
However, the small number of parts made this option prohibitively expense per piece,
so welding was
ultimately chosen as the fabrication method.
The basic construction of each weldment is the joining of two C-channels. A less expensive
option of
welding a plate on an open box places the weld seam in the corner of the box beam
was initially
investigated. This location is undesirable due to the fact that the corner of the beam is the
location of
maximum stress in torsional load cases (see Figure 5), and therefore necessitates the more
complicated
C-channel approach. The typical wall thickness of 1 mm increases to 1.5 mm along the weld
seam for
extra strength. This design process also enables additional features to be machined into the
welded
members. The aft bogie member has a recess machined into it for the bogie latch pawl to
reside. The
“knees” in the aft rocker and center wheel struts are thickened up to accommodate the
localized increase
in stress.
189

28
 CHAPTER 5

Result & Discussion

The proposed paper produces a novel design in pursue of increasing the rocker-bogie
mobility system in conventional heavy loading vehicle behaviour when high-speed traversal
is required. Presented situation was faced presenting two modes of operation within same
working principle which is a rocker-bogie system with a robust obstacles traverse features
and another is an expanded support hexagon achieved by rotating the bogies of each side of
the vehicle. The proposed modification increases in the stability margin and proved with
valuable and profitable contrasting the SSF metric with the 3D model simulations done in
SOLIDWORKS. In future, if the system installed in heavy vehicles and conventional off road
vehicles, it will definitely decreases the complexity as well as power requirements to retain
bumping within it.

We studied the existing models of rocker bogie suspension enabled rovers and tried to
manufacture a similar kind with the materials available. We made a slight modification with
the introduction of mechanical gear type steering system.
The materials used in the manufacturing of the rover were aluminum plates and plywood.
The rocker bogie arms were made using aluminum plates of 5mm thickness and holes
were punched throughout the arms to reduce the weight of the rover. The rocker and bogie
were joined using bearings. Both the rocker bogie arms were connected using stainless
steel rod and bearings. For the steering system plywood base was cut according to the
required dimensions on which six gears were mounted (one master gear, two idlers and
two wheel gears). All the gears used were of mild steel grade

After the realized simulation, the results has been generated and analysed which comparing
the disturbances in the ATV’s Centre of Gravity position in each of the two operating modes,
contrasting the response of these two distinctive configurations of the rocker-bogie
suspension against upcoming obstacles that can be present along the system generated
obstacles and roadblocks. The test track used for these experiments is a 10 square meters
platform with one cylindrical bumper. The simulated rover has a total mass of 260 Kg.

29
 CHAPTER 5

Conclusion

The steering mechanism was successfully installed and operated using mechanical gears in
the existing rocker bogie rover design. The drawback of this system is that the rover designed
with this steering mechanism is limited to traverse in less rough or only plain surface.
Attempts can be made to modify and solve this problem to design a more stable rover so that
the vehicle can travel in both smooth and rough surface.

The proposed paper produces a novel design in pursue of increasing the rocker-bogie
mobility system in conventional heavy loading vehicle behaviour when high-speed traversal
is required. Presented situation was faced presenting two modes of operation within same
working principle which is a rocker-bogie system with a robust obstacles traverse features
and another is an expanded support hexagon achieved by rotating the bogies of each side of
the vehicle. The proposed modification increases in the stability margin and proved with
valuable and profitable contrasting the SSF metric with the 3D model simulations done in
SOLIDWORKS. In future, if the system installed in heavy vehicles and conventional off road
vehicles, it will definitely decreases the complexity as well as power requirements to retain
bumping within it.

30
 REFRENCE

[1]B.Vilcox, T.Nguyen, Sojourner on Mars and Lessons Learned for Future Planetary
Rovers, ICES,1997
[2]National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mars Exploration Rover
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[3]P.E.Sandin, Robot Mechanisms and Mechanical Devices Illustrated (McGraw Hill-New
York-2003)
[4]Roving over Mars, Mechanical Engineering Journal, April 1988.
[5]Jump up – David P. Miller, Tze-Liang Lee: ”High-speed traversal of rough terrain using a
rocker-bogie mobility system ”.
[6] Dongkyu Choi, Jongkyun Oh and Jongwon Kim: Analysis method of climbing stairs with
the rocker-bogie mechanism Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 27 (9) (2013)
2783~2788
[7] Hervé Hacot, Steven Dubowsky, Philippe Bidaud Analysis and simulation of a rocker
bogie exploration rover Hac_dub_bid 1998_07
ND
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