Rough Terrain Vehicle Using Rocker Bogie Mechanism

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Rocker bogie mechanism is a mechanism primarily used in the mars rovers to overcome the rough terrains while maintaining stability. It is NASA’s favorite mechanism for space vehicles & rovers. It consists of two arms with wheel mounted to each. Both arms are connected through a movable joint. This enables to have a suspension based mechanism that distributes the vehicle load as evenly as possible even on bumps and irregular surfaces. The design consists of a spring free suspension based differential drive system that allows the bogie to move over rocks, pebbles with ease. The sensors and cameras mounted on a rover must be stable to work properly and also to increase their life spam. More vibrations and jerks lead to faster wear and tear in in sensors, circuit boards and cameras. The rocker bogie mechanism was designed keeping this in mind by providing maximum stability in all terrains. Thus we study the design and fabrication of the rocker bogie mechanism by fabrication of this rough terrain vehicle using concepts of the bogie mechanism.