PROF.

RAM MEGHE INSTITUTE OF

TECHNOLOGY & RESEARCH,
BADNERA
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
(Year of 2019-20)

SEMINAR REPORT
ON
“ROCKER BOGIE MECHANISM”

Presented & Submitted by

Mr. Yogesh K. Kulsundar
Final year Mechanical Engineering
GUIDED BY
Dr. S.G. Bahaley

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 PROF. RAM MEGHE INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY & RESEARCH,
BADNERA
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

(YEAR 2019-20)

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that, the seminar work entitled

“ROCKER BOGIE MECHANISM”

has been duly submitted by

Mr. Yogesh K. Kulsundar

Final year Mechanical Engineering

Dr. S.G. Bahaley Dr. D.S. Ingole

Project Guide Head of Department
Dept of Mechanical Engineering
PRMIT&R, Badnera

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is a matter of great pleasure by getting the

opportunity of highlighting a fraction of knowledge, we
acquired by during my technical education through this
seminar.
This would not have been possible without the guidance
and help of many people. This is only a page where I have the
opportunity of expressing my emotions and gratitude from the
care of my heart to them.
This seminar would not have been success without
enlightened ideas timely suggestion have been interest my most
respected guide Prof. Dr.S.G.Bahaley without his best guidance
this would have been an impossible task to complete.
Being on the same line as well express our deep sense
of gratitude to our head of department Prof. D.S.Ingole
for this most valuable guidance provided by him.
I would like to thanks Dr. A.P.Bodhke principle of our
institution for providing necessary facility during the period of
working on the seminar.
Last but not the least we would like to express
our thankfulness to teaching and non-teaching staff, my
friends and all my wishers.

Presented By

Mr. Yogesh K. Kulsundar

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 ABSTRACT
Rocker bogie is a four or six wheeled rover capable of traversing
rough terrain using an efficient high degree of mobility suspension
system. The primary mechanical feature of the rocker bogie design is
its drive train simplicity, which is accomplished by using only two
motors for mobility. Both motors are located inside the body where
temperature due to heating of motors is kept to a minimum, increasing
reliability and efficiency. The wheels are used because there are few
obstacles on natural terrain that require the front wheels of the rover
to climb simultaneously. A series of mobility experiments in the
agriculture land, rough roads, inclined, stairs and obstacles surfaces
concluded that rocker bogie can achieve some distance traverses on
field.
Rocker bogie finds a vital role in determining the scientific analysis of
objectives separated by many distance apart. The mobility design at
present is quite a bit complex with many legs or wheels. The wheeled
rover which is capable of driving over the rough terrain provided with
high degree of mobility suspension system. The drive provided by the
rocker bogie is simple and it mainly operated by the means of two
motors. The motors are kept inside in order to make it more reliable
and efficient. In overcoming the bumps in the natural terrain the
wheels are operated simultaneously By implementing this mechanism
the vehicle can come through any obstacles it faces during the travel
in the terrain.
Rocker bogie are important for conducting in-situ scientific analysis
of objectives that are separated by many meters to tens of kilometers.
Current mobility designs are complex, using many wheels or legs.
They are open to mechanical failure caused by the harsh environment
on Mars. A four wheeled rover capable of traversing rough terrain
using an efficient high degree of mobility suspension system. The
primary mechanical feature of the rocker bogie design is its drive train
simplicity, which is accomplished by using only two motors for
mobility. Both motors are located inside the body where thermal
variation is kept to a minimum, increasing reliability and efficiency.
Four wheels are used because there are few obstacles on natural

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terrain that require both front wheels of the rover to climb
simultaneously. A series of mobility experiments in the agriculture
land, rough roads, inclined, stairs and obstacles surfaces concluded
that rocker bogie can achieve some distance traverses on field.
It is obvious that rovers are important vehicles of today’s solar system
exploration. Most of the rover designs have been developed for Mars
and Moon surface in order to understand the geological history of the
soil and rocks. Exploration operations need high speed and long
distance traversal in a short mission period due to environmental
effects, climate and communication restrictions. Several mechanisms
have been suggested in recent years for suspensions of rovers on
rough terrain. Although their different mechanisms have found a
widespread usage in mobile robotics, their low operation speed is still
a challenging problem. In this research, a new suspension mechanism
has been designed and its kinematic analysis results were discussed.

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 INDEX

SR.N TOPICS PAGE

O NO
1 Introduction 7-8
2 Basic principles of Rocker Bogie mechanism 9
3 Construction: 10-12
A)Tyres
B) Links
C)Bogie
D)Suspension

4 Working of Rocker Bogie Mechanism 13-14

5 Obstacle Capacity 14
6 History of Rovers 15-16
7 Objective 17
8 Advantages 18
9 Disadvantages 18
10 Conclusion 19
11 Future work 20
12 References 21

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 1. INTRODUCTION:
The Rocker-Bogie system is the suspension arrangement used in
the Mars rovers (mechanical robot) introduced for the Mars
Pathfinder and also used on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) missions. It is currently
NASA's favored design. The term rocker comes from the rocking
aspect of the larger links on each side of the suspension system.
These rockers are connected to each other and the vehicle chassis
through a differential. Relative to the chassis, when one rocker
goes up, the other goes down. The chassis maintains the average
pitch angle of both rockers. One end of a rocker is fitted with a
drive wheel and the other end is pivoted to a bogie. The term
bogie refers to the links that have a drive wheel at each end.
Bogies were commonly used as load wheels in the tracks of army
tanks as idlers distributing the load over the terrain. Bogies were
also quite commonly used on the trailers of semi trailer trucks.
Both applications now prefer trailing arm suspensions. NASA
recently started an ambitious exploration program of Mars
.Pathfinder is the first rover explorer in this program. Future
rovers will need to travel several kilometers over periods of
months and manipulate rock and soil samples. They will also
need to be somewhat autonomous. Rocker bogie based rovers are
likely candidates for these missions the physics of these rovers is
quite complex.
To design and control these, analytical models of how the rover
interacts with its environment are essential. Models are also
needed for rover action planning. Simple mobility analysis of
rocker-bogie vehicles have been developed and used for design
evaluation. In the available published works, the rocker-bogie
configuration is modeled as a planar system. Improving the
performances of a simpler four wheel rover has also been explored
.In this work, actuator redundancy and the position of the center of
mass of a vehicle is exploited to improve traction. The method
relies on real-time measurements of wheel/ground contact forces,

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which are difficult to measure in practice. Traction can also be
improved by monitoring the skidding of the rover wheels on the
ground. However; detailed models of the full 3-D mechanics of
rocker-bogie rovers have not been developed. Further models
including the manipulator’s influence are also required to
effectively planning and controlling the actions of these rovers.
For example it is important for a planner to be able to predict if a
rover can successfully negotiate a given terrain obstacles, such as
a ditch, without being trapped.
Many rovers developed after Sojourner with different features and
scientific objectives. In early days of January 2004, second and
third rovers landed different locations on Mars named Spirit
(MER1) and Opportunity (MER2). Scientific results of these
powerful vehicles are bigger than their physical dimensions. All of
the three rovers’ success and scientific results show that space
agencies will continue robotic geologists frequently in future.
The optimization of a particular suspension system known as the
“rocker-bogie” for our Mars Rover. This type of mechanism has
been used on most of the rovers on Mars and has proved to be a
simple and elegant design. A Genetic Algorithm was implemented
and used to optimize the geometry and kinematics of the rover’s
wheel suspension system subject to the defined performance
metrics. This work shows the effectiveness of the optimization of a
rocker-bogie suspension system using a Genetic Algorithm. It also
reveals that the resulting system meets all constraints and that
significantly reduces the error of individual performance metrics
and the overall system. It was shown that the overall fitness of the
rover suspension system can be increased by an average of 28%
after 100 iterations compared to an initial guess. All performance
metrics defined were improved significantly throughout the
optimization. The method can be applied to different types of
rovers in order to optimize the wheel suspension mechanism’s
geometry.

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 2. BASIC PRINCIPLE OF ROCKER BOGIE MECHANISM

The rocker-bogie design consisting of no springs and stub axles in

each wheel which allows the chassis to climb over any obstacles, such
as rocks, ditches, sand, etc. that are up to double the wheel's diameter
in size while keeping all wheels on the ground maximum time. As
compared to any suspension system, the tilt stability is limited by the
height of the centre of gravity and the proposed system has the same.
Systems employing springs tend to tip more easily as the loaded side
yields during obstacle course. Dependent upon the centre of overall
weight, any vehicle developed on the basis of Rocker bogie
suspension can withstand a tilt of at least 50 degrees in any direction
without overturning which is the biggest advantage for any heavy
loading vehicle. The system is designed to be implemented in low
speed working vehicles such as heavy trucks, Bulldozers which works
at slow speed of around 10 centimeters per second (3.9 in/s) so as to
minimize dynamic shocks and consequential damage to the vehicle
when surrounding sizable obstacles.

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 3. CONSTRUCTION:

A) Wheel:
As the main aim of rocker bogie is to climb
obstacles. So for climbing obstacles the diameter of wheel
should be between the ranges of 0.5 - 0.9 times the obstacle .so
it can climb the obstacles of size 1.5 times its diameter.
There are various types of materials for preparing tyres but we
are using vinyl plastics as they have some desirable properties
like:
They are cheap compared to others, High rigidity, They are
more flexible when climbing stairs.

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B) Links:
The main purpose of links in rocker bogie is to climb the
obstacles without springs and it ensures that tyres remain in contact
with ground all the time. Dimensions of links depend upon wheel.
Depending on the diameter of wheel the links dimensions vary.

Various links of a Rocker Bogie suspension system:-

1) Main Links 2) Support Links 3) Inclined Links 4) Wheel Links

C) Rod :
This serves an important part in the Rocker Bogie as it
connects either sides of it. So the rod or link which is used to
connect should possess high strength with light weight.
Aluminum can be the best material to use as it possesses light
weight with high Strength.

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 D) Suspension:
The suspension has 6 wheels with symmetric structure
for both sides. Each side has 3 wheels which are connected to
each other with two links. The main linkage called rocker has 2
joints. While 1st joint is connected to the front wheel and 2nd
joint assembled to another linkage that called bogie, which is
similar to the train wagon suspension.

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 4. WORKING OF ROCKER BOGIE
MECHANISM:

it is find that the rocker bogie system reduces the motion by

compared to the other suspension systems because each of the
bogies have 6 wheels has an independent mechanism for motion
and in which the 2 front and 2 rear or back wheels have
individual steering systems that allows the vehicle to turn in
place as zero degree turning ratio. Each wheel also has thick
cleats which allow the grip for climbing in smooth sand and
scrambling over the rocks with ease. In that way it overcomes
the vertical obstacle faces, and the front wheels are forced
against to the obstacle by the middle and back wheels which
generate maximum required torque. The rotation of the front
wheel lifts the front of the vehicle up and over the obstacle and
obstacle overtaken. Those wheels which remain in the middle, is
then pressed against the obstacle by the rear wheels and pulled
against the obstacle by the front till the time it is lifted up and
over. Finally, the rear wheel is pulled over the obstacle by the
front two wheels. During each wheel's traversal of the obstacle,
forward progress of the vehicle is slowed or completely halted.
This is not an issue for the operational speeds at which these
vehicles have been operated to date.
This work shows how rocker bogie system works on
different surfaces. As per the different weight acting on link
determines torque applied on it. By assuming accurate stair
dimensions, accurately dimensioned rocker bogie can climb the
stair with great stability. The design and manufactured model
can climb the angle up to 45˚. Also we tested for the Web cam
with AV recording mounted on rocker bogie system and found
satisfactory performance of its capabilities for providing image
and video data.

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 5. OBSTACLE CAPACITY:
A rover’s obstacle limit generally compared with robot’s
wheel size. In four wheel drive off-road vehicles, limit is nearly
half of their wheel diameter. It is possible to pass over more
than this height by pushing driving wheel to obstacle which can
be called as climbing. Step or stair climbing is the maximum
limit of obstacles. The contact point of wheel and obstacle is at
the same height with wheel center for this condition. Field tests
show that Mars mobile robots should be able to overcome at
least 1.5 times height of its wheel diameter. This limitation
narrows the mobile robot selection alternatives and forces
scientists to improve their current designs and study on new
rovers.

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 6. HISTORY OF ROVERS
A) Lunakhod:
The first planetary geological exploration rover selected was
“Lunakhod” which has been sent Moon twice with USSR – Luna
missions to gather information around settled site and send
images of enviornment. Lunakhod was guided in real time by a
5-person team at the Deep Space Center near Moscow, USSR.
Lunakhod-2 toured the lunar Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) for
eleven months in one of the greatest successes travelled 37 km
on Moon terrain.

B) Sojourner:
In 1996, NASA – Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California
Institute of Technology have designed improved rovers with
similar structure named Sojourner and Marie-Curie. These tiny
rovers were only 10.5 kilograms and microwave oven sized.
Rover Sojourner was established with Pathfinder landing module
in December 1996. Marie Curie rover was also planned to send
Mars with 2001 mission but was cancelled. Operators have sent
commands via lander Pathfinder and they examined rocks and
soil components of Mars more than 3 months. Sojourner was a
breaking point of exploration.

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 C) Nanorover:
Another rover to active suspension system is nanorover which
was invented for exploration of small celestial bodies like comets
and asteroids in space. Small dimensional characteristics and
lightweight are advantages of this robot. This system consist of
four wheels with 6 cm diameter. Each wheel is connected to the
chassis with independent positioned struts. Since the robot can
operate on both sides (upside-down), overturning was not a
problem. Onboard computers can also manipulate the suspension
systems for arranging tractor forces.

D) Shrimp:
Shrimp is also a different six-wheeled rover which designed by
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology – EPFL. It has a one front
four-bar to climb over obstacles up to two wheel diameter with no
stability problem. The Middle has four wheels which have
parallelogram bogie which balances the wheel reaction forces
during climbing. Single back and front wheels connected directly
to the main body also driven by motor to increase the climbing
capacity.

7. OBJECTIVES:

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  To contribute evidence in favour of using a track system
as opposed to the traditional wheel system
 To use of track system in future rover designs
 To design an efficient rover involves the communication
system
 To decrease the cost or increasing the life cycle of the
lunar rovers scope
 To minimize manpower.
 To improve efficiency of operation.

8. ADVANTAGES:
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1. This mechanism allows climbing obstacles twice the size of wheel
diameter.
2. Does not employ springs and stub axle which helps to maintain
equal traction force on all the wheels.
3. Equal distribution of load on all wheels
4. Independent movement of rocker on either sides of bogie .
5. The front and back wheels have individual drives for climbing,
enabling the rover to traverse obstacle without slip.
6. The design is simple and reliable.

9. DISADVANTAGES:

1. It is highly unstable at high speeds.

2. At high speed it experiences head on collision of wheels with
obstacles.

10 . CONCLUSION:

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In this thesis study, rover suspension mechanisms have been
discussed. Linear motion mechanism of Chebyshev has been
improved and applied for a Mars rover suspension mechanism.
Results of the simulations and position analysis show that linear
motion bogie has good performance during field operations. On the
other hand, different designs should be discussed to improve the
capacity of suspension. This research also shows that it is possible to
construct useful mechanisms by arranging classical four-bar
mechanisms. These design possibilities can be discussed with new
structural synthesis formula, which has been introduced and applied
on rover suspension design.

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 11 . FUTURE WORK:

 With this development in technology the rover can be used for

reconnaissance purposes with the cameras installed on the rovar
and minimizing the size of rover.
 With some development like attaching arms to the rover it can
be able to cut the wires for diffusing the bomb.
 .It can be developed into Suspension system for automobile
vehicle through proper research.
 It can also used for geological mapping of unknown terrains as
it can provide live video feed and images of the terrains being
explored.

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 12. REFERENCES:

1) Gourang Amrujkar “Design and Manufacturing of Rocker Bogie”

(International Engineering Research journal) ISSN: 2395-1621,
5March, 2016.

2) David P. Miller & Tze-Liang Lee, “High-Speed Traversal of

Rough Terrain Using a Rocker-Bogie Mobility System” IOSR-
JMCE Journal, 21March, 2002.

3) Gross Michael “An overview of NASA‘s Mars Science

Laboratory ” 9th European Space Power Conference, 6 June,
2011.

4) Brian D. Harrington & Chris Voorhees, “The Challenges of

Designing the Rocker Bogie Suspension for the Mars Exploration
Rover” Journal of advanced Robotics, October 2007.

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