{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,21]],"date-time":"2026-02-21T18:51:27Z","timestamp":1771699887454,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2011,10,18]],"date-time":"2011-10-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1318896000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2011,10,18]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>Wheel\u2010terrain interaction has hardly been taken into consideration in the process of conventional mobile robot design, but its importance has been reflected increasingly towards these categories of mobile robots in rough sandy terrain or obstacle\u2010dense ground, as the first performance index in this situation is the trafficability of robot whose propulsion is uniquely generated by wheel\u2010terrain interaction. Consequently, it is valuable to find an optimized design method when the terrain and robot itself are regarded simultaneously. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel and reasonable design approach to mobile robot in sandy terrain.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>Leading to some conflicted performance indices of robot, terramechanics describes the non\u2010linear characteristics in wheel\u2010terrain interaction mathematically, therefore, trade\u2010offs must be implemented to get a proper solution by multi\u2010objective optimization (MOO). In this paper, a five\u2010wheeled drive and five\u2010wheeled steering (5WD5WS) reconfigurable mobile robot is taken as demonstration with taxonomy of total\u2010symmetrical, partial\u2010symmetrical and asymmetrical prototypes. After function modeling, the MOO is carried out via iSIGHT\u2010FD using NCGA (Neighborhood Cultivation Genetic Algorithm) to minimize the mass, wheel resistance and maximize the static stability simultaneously.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>After MOO, a compact and light weighted asymmetrical prototype is obtained with better trafficability, and other prototypes can produce diversified configurations to meet specific requirements. Significantly reduced masses (about 17\u2009kg) enhance the grade\u2010ability when robot is in rough terrain. Performed real\u2010world experiments have also verified these prototypes.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>The paper presents a new design approach for a mobile robot which focuses on both robot and terrain simultaneously with respect to conflicted factors. To unveil the insight relation of these factors, MOO is an effective tool to get a trade\u2010offs prototype.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/01439911111179110","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2011,10,29]],"date-time":"2011-10-29T07:15:10Z","timestamp":1319872510000},"page":"599-613","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Prototypes selection by multi\u2010objective optimal design: application to a reconfigurable robot in sandy terrain"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"38","author":[{"given":"He","family":"Xu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhenyu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Khalil","family":"Alipour","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kai","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"X.Z.","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022012620315819200_b1","unstructured":"Apostolopoulos, D.S. 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