Design and Analysis of Tracked Robot with Differential Mechanism

A four tracks robot with double rocker arms and differential mechanism is developed. The body of the robot is driven by a single DC motor, and realizes the forward, backward and steering actions by matching with the electromagnetic brakes, and the output power from differential half shafts can be allocated to the double rocker arms, so as to complete the obstacle action. Meanwhile, the obstacle-surmounting performance of step-climbing is analyzed, by establishing the relationship of the inclination angle of the robot, the elevation angle of the swing arm and the height of the step-climbing, the theoretical value of the maximum obstacle height is obtained. And based on the test of the prototype, the measured value of the obstacle height is compared with the theoretical value.