Substantiating the excitation conditions of a two-module vibration-driven locomotion system with two unbalanced rotors

Abstract

Vibration-driven locomotion systems are widely used in various industries, particularly, in the form of capsule-type robots, wheeled platforms, worm-like units, etc. Because of the changeable operating conditions, such systems require continuous control of their kinematic and dynamic characteristics. The main purpose of the present paper is to define the optimal excitation conditions (forced frequencies and phase shifts) of a wheeled two-module vibration-driven robot equipped with two unbalanced rotors. The research methodology contains four stages: developing the robot’s dynamic diagram and mathematical model describing its motion; designing the robot’s simulation model in the MapleSim software; numerical modeling of the system locomotion conditions in the Mathematica software; simulating the system dynamic behavior in the MapleSim software. The obtained results show the time dependencies of the system’s kinematic characteristics at different phase shift angles of the unbalanced rotors. The major scientific novelty of this paper consists in substantiating the possibilities of adjusting the system’s operational parameters in accordance with the changeable technological requirements by means of changing the phase shift angles of the unbalanced rotors. The proposed ideas and obtained results can be used while developing new designs of robots based on the two-module vibration-driven systems and while improving the control systems for adjusting their performance in accordance with the changeable operational conditions.