Spherical Rolling Robots Design, Modeling, and Control: A Systematic Literature Review

Spherical robots have garnered increasing interest 1 INTRODUCTION for their applications in exploration, tunnel inspection, Spherical rolling robots (SRRs) are a fascinating category and extraterrestrial missions. Diverse designs of robots characterized by their ability to move by have emerged, including barycentric configurations, rolling on themselves, owing to their unique spherical pendulum-based mechanisms, etc. However, beneath this seemingly simple concept wide spectrum of control strategies has been proposed, lies a plethora of sophisticated mechanisms and control ranging from traditional PID approaches to cutting-edge strategies that enable such motion. Our systematic review aims to comprehensively ago, NASA introduced the idea of "Beach-Ball" Robotic identify and categorize locomotion systems and Rovers Notably, the Rollo, designed the years 1996 to 2023. A meticulous search across five in 1996 at Finland's Helsinki University of Technology databases yielded a dataset of 3189 records. As a result [1], stands as one of the pioneering spherical of our exhaustive analysis, we identified a collection robots aimed at operating in hostile environments. Leveraging the inherent protective nature of their spherical shell renders insights garnered, we provide valuable recommendations them well-suited for challenging terrains, safeguarding for optimizing the design and control aspects of spherical sensitive mechatronics, including sensors and actuators. Furthermore, we illuminate [2], surveys of dusty construction sites, tracking key research directions that hold the potential to crop yields in muddy fields, and even missions in extreme unlock the full capabilities of spherical robots. Barycentric spherical robots (BSRs) manipulate reviews exist in the literature, they fail to encapsulate the the center of mass to achieve desired motion, exemplified latest advancements in this field. For instance, a comprehensive by wheeled mechanisms within a spherical shell examination of rolling in robotics [6] delves into or popular pendulum-driven spherical robots.