Simultaneous surface scanning and stability analysis of wheeled mobile robots using a new spatial sensitive shield sensor

To achieve a complete sense of a typical mobile robot moving on the rough and unknown surfaces, a new sensitive shield attached to the robotic wheel is developed with the principle of the total resistance of a circuit. Contact point detection using the new sensitive shield empowers the wheeled-robots to scan the surface, to find the spatial stability measure and to control itself in the absence of camera and laser. The resistive circuit, whereby the sensor is developed, includes a conductive wire, a resistive wire, an impulse voltage source and an additional resistor. All these elements are assembled as an exterior sensitive shield attached to the outside of the wheel. The main advantage of the resistive shield is to determine the exact locations of the spatial contact point on the thick wheel only by means of an input data. Using the data detected from the sensitive shield, the control process can produce the accurate rotational velocities of the wheels required for pursuing a desired path. Furthermore, the results of the new sensor enhance the accuracy of the spatial stability measure. The results of this research imply how the accurate contact point detection aided by the new sensor yields a reliable approach for surface scanning and stability measure calculation.