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Ask Charlie: Is it possible to stabilize a 2-wheel robotic vehicle?

Yes, it's about JALURO :-)
Charlie Masi from Control Engineering blogged about our 2-wheel rover prototype and the control challenges we are faced with. While the 2-wheel setup with underslung chassis is statically stable, the pendulum-like properties make it difficult to keep the rover body stable during acceleration and deceleration. You can read the blog post, which also contains an analysis, on the Control Engineering website.

For the sake of completeness, I've included the video showing JALURO's first test drive (this was already posted back in December 2008).




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Two Problems Sovled

First, you have to jack up the axel, or it will never have clearance. (You don't need to change anything to do this, just turn it upside down.) Second make it a tripod. Let it drag a bottom heavy ski (or third wheel) behind it. (Connect the ski to the axel via an extension.) Voila!

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Thanks for the tip. It

Thanks for the tip. It seems, however, that Jaluro would loose some cool features, e.g. turn around without moving :-(