Prototype Design of Rotatable Planetary Rover

Focusing on solving the problem of rover failure caused by overturn,this paper proposes a prototype design of planetary rover which can move on the ground with every side and can work normally when it is overturned.In this prototype,a special 45 degree wheel frame is adopted to guarantee that the rover can move stably with 4 wheels on the ground at every moment,while the number of the total wheels is 8.A new posture sensor is developed to measure the posture of the rover.For effective collection of solar energy,a solar power supply device is designed to keep the solar panel upturned when the rover is overturned.Experiments show that the rover gets the desired performance which brings about potential applications in planetary exploration,search-and-rescue and military reconnaissance,etc.