Sistemi di presa e movimentazione di robot non convenzionali

This thesis focuses on the design of some main components of a lunar rover assigned to working tasks. The main task of this rover is to clear areas of the lunar soil allocated to the building of a lunar base. In the first part of the work the lunar environment is studied and described with particular attention to the rover tasks. The rover in the final configuration will be able to advance in all directions on the soil, to control the attitude and to grasp and to remove obstacle and object on the soil. It will be provided by a frame, legs and will, grasping system. The design of the lifting system for the attitude control, based on the action of four motorized legs, has been approached with particular regard to the structural characteristics and to the transmission and motorization. The transmission of the lifting system uses a precision coupling between a lead screw and nut, driven by electrical motors. To allow optimal working conditions for the lead screw and nut, the lifting device was designed as a compact apparatus which also comprises a particular joint which is capable to uncouple shear and bending loads transmitted to it from the other parts. The design of the components has to keep into account the peculiar characteristics of the lunar environment. This aspect was considered by an appropriate geometrical design of the components and a careful choice of the materials. The gripper mechanism of the rover is designed to operate without dedicated motors and it is able to be self-adaptive to the shape of the picked up item also if the object is placed in a non defined position, in any case in a working space. The design optimization of the grasping mechanism, choosing shape and dimension of the different arms, was performed by means of parametric modeling and numerical simulations. Finally an innovative type of wheel was designed and realized to verify the real ability to operate. The wheel is a non pneumatic system with and integrated suspension and energy scavenging system to power the sensors and control system on board.