Reinventing the wheel: a simulation-aided design of a soft, shape-adapting, lugged wheel for locomotion on sandy terrains

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Abstract
Locomotion over granular terrain poses significant challenges for autonomous robotic systems, particularly in coastal regions characterized by loose, shifting sands. To optimize the locomotion on these challenging terrains, a simulation-aided design approach was used to develop a soft, shape-adapting, wheeled locomotion system. A co-simulation framework combining the discrete element method (DEM) and multibody dynamics (MBD) is employed to simulate the locomotion of a wheeled robot on varying sandy soils, covering both dry and wet sandy soil conditions. A shape-adapting wheel design is proposed, incorporating soft, inflatable elements that enable the wheel to transform between lugged and circular configurations. A discretized flexbody approach is adopted to model the interactions between the sandy soil and the soft, flexible bodies of the shape-adapting wheel design. Simulation results demonstrate improved performance of the shape-adapting wheels across a variety of sandy terrains, including slopes and obstacles. Integrating softness into the wheel improves obstacle climbing performance, while a lugged wheel configuration performs particularly well on loose, dry sandy slopes. This DEM-MBD co-simulation further enables efficient evaluation of locomotion strategies without the need for extensive physical prototyping.

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