Active suspension system for mobile robot: design and analysis

The aim of this study is to design and implement an active suspension system dedicated to 1:10 scale car that allows an effective dampening of disturbances that appear, while riding a difficult terrain. This research focuses on angular errors, and also on meeting spatial constraints with regard to energy consumption. Active suspension system is designed with 3D printing technology. The system is actuated with four analogue positional servomechanisms. Orientation and position calculation use output of an inertial measurement sensor with six degrees of freedom. Respective suspension control is realized using multidimensional PID-based configuration. Dedicated software, which controls the hardware is developed in Python. Active suspension and the entire mobile robot is physically built and validated in real environment. Results reveal correct operation of the system. It achieves successful as-designed dampening for external disturbances originated by terrain unevenness and internal deviations caused by changes in throttle and steering.