Spherical Robots

Rolling is one of the most efficient forms of terrestrial locomotion. Spherical Robots are a special class of mobile robots that leverage on this behavior through the use of artificial rolling spheres to offer rapid omnidirectional planar mobility. We have designed and engineered numerous version of prototypes of spherical robot, Virgo, leading to the world smallest spherical shell enclosed robot with advanced sensing, navigation and ISR capabilities. This was awarded the 2017 Singapore Good Design Mark.

 

Publications

  • Niu, A. P. Suherlan, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong, K. Wood and K. Otto, “Mechanical Development and Control of a Miniature Nonholonomic Spherical Rolling Robot”, Proceedings of the IEEE 13th International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision, Singapore, 2014.
  • A. Vibhute, A. P. Suherlan, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong, K. Wood and K. Otto, “Localization and Trajectory Tracking of an Autonomous Spherical Rolling Robot using IMU and Odometry”, Proceedings of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, Boston, USA, 2015.
  • Wu, L. Marechal, A. Vibhute, S. H. Foong, G. S. Soh, and K. L. Wood, “A Compact Magnetic Directional Proximity Sensor for Spherical Robots”, IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, Banff, Canada, 2016.
  • Hu, A. Vibhute, S. H. Foong and G. S. Soh, “Autonomous Docking of Miniature Spherical Robots with an External 2D Laser Rangefinder”, IEEE TENCON, Singapore, 2016.
  • F. Wu, A. Vibhute, G. S. Soh, K. L. Wood and S. H. Foong, “A Compact Magnetic Field-Based Obstacle Detection and Avoidance System for Miniature Spherical Robots”, IEEE Sensors, 17(6):1231, 2017.
  • A. R. Chowdhury, A. Vibhute, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong, and K. Wood, “Implementing Caterpillar Inspired Roll Control of a Spherical Robot”, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Singapore, 2017.
  • Satria, S. H. Foong, G. S. Soh and K. L. Wood, “Robust Variable Phase Command Shaper for Vibration Suppression in Motion Control of Spherical Rolling Robots”, IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, Munich, Germany, 2017.
  • A. R. Chowdhury, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong and K. L. Wood, “Experiments in Second Order Sliding Mode Control of a CPG based Spherical Robot”, 20th IFAC World Congress, 2017.
  • D. Nguyen, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong and K. L. Wood, “De-coupled Dynamics Control of a Spherical Rolling Robot for Waypoint Navigation”, IEEE International Conference on Cybernetics and Intelligent Systems – Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics, Ningbo, China, 2017.
  • A. R. Chowdhury, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong and K. L. Wood, “Implementation of CPG based Roll Gait and Nonlinear Control Strategy in a Spherical Robot”, Journal of Bionic Engineering, 15(2): 313-328, 2018.
  • A. R. Chowdhury, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong, and K. L. Wood, “Evaluating Robust Trajectory Control of a Miniature Rolling and Spinning Robot in Outdoor Conditions”, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Brisbane, Australia, 2018.
  • A. R. Chowdhury, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong and K. L. Wood, “Experiments in Robust Path Following Control of a Rolling and Spinning Robot on Outdoor Surfaces”, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 106:140-151, 2018.
  • D. Nguyen, G. S. Soh, S. H. Foong, K. L. Wood, “Localization of A Miniature Spherical Rolling Robot using IMU, ODOMETRY AND UWB”, ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference, Quebec, USA, 2018. (Accepted)