Brief description for the project:​

Spherical robots are unique example of locomotion system that generates its driving torque by continuously displacing the center of gravity. The benefits of such system are believed to be several. First, the spherical structure of the robot shell protects the inner components form the outsider environment making it amphibious. Second, the spherical shape gives the ability to move in tightly constrained places. Finally, the robot is characterised by low-power motion due the one point contact to the ground minimising the friction force. One Limitation of the spherical robot is that the driving torque depends on the displaced mass and the size of the sphere. Another one is that the surface of the sphere has to be rubbery in order to increase the grip on slippery surfaces.  This thesis present the design, fabrication, modeling and motion control of pendulum driven sphere robot. System dynamics have been identified using Direct continuous Transfer Function Estimation in LabVIEW. Another approach of the system modeling was done by Lagrange formulation. Afterward a PI controller was tuned to control the robot speed and steering. Simulations were conducted to compare the real response and the proposed controller.