Abstract: The terrain and soil environment of moon surface are hard for vehicle to move, so the higher capabilities are required for locomotion system of lunar rover. An innovative locomotion system with high trafficability and cab smoothness is proposed to meet the requirements of hard environment. It is composed of the obverse-reverse four-linkage suspension and the vane-telescopic walking wheel. The obverse-reverse four-linkage suspension is a dependent suspension for six-wheel vehicle. It can make the vehicle have strong climbing capability and keep cab relatively smooth during climbing through the comparison with rocky-bogie suspension based on dynamics, kinematics and simulation. Aiming at enhancing performance in sandy soil of multi-incompact degree, the vane-telescopic walking wheel is proposed. Based on the interaction between wheel and soil, the wheel can automatically adjust the depth of vane into soil so as to change the tractive capability, ride comfort and energy consumption. Some tests are also done to verify above performances. The result shows that the innovative locomotion system not only has strong climbing capability and can keep cab relatively smooth during climbing, but also can enhance the tractive capability as far as possible under the poor trafficability road candition and decrease the energy consumption and vibration under the good trafficability road candition.

Key words: Innovative locomotion system, Lunar rover, Suspension, Wheel