Design of a wheel test bed for a planetary exploration rover and driving experiment

In this paper, the consideration factors that affect the actual driving of a rover wheel was examined based on the wheel-terrain model. For the evaluation of driving performance in a real environment, the test bed of the rover wheel consists of the driving part of the wheel and sensing part of the various parameters was designed and assembled. Using the test bed, the preliminary driving experiment concerning the slip ratio, sinkage, and friction force according to the rotational velocity and the shape of the wheel were carried out and evaluated. The wheel test bed and the experiment results are expected to contribute to finding the optimal result in the designing of the wheel shape and the planning of the driving conditions through further study.