A Feasibility Analysis of a Six-Wheel Drive Rover for Bush Clearing Operations

The paper deals with the possibility of adopting an autonomous mobile robot for brush cutting in areas characterized by strong surface irregularities. The robot consists of a rover with six-wheel drive and equipped with rocker bogie suspension to operate on rough terrain. The cutting head can reach surfaces adjacent to the rover being the end effector of a manipulator mounted on the rover. The manipulator can position the cutting head in front or to the side of the rover; the latter pose can reduce the risk of robot rollover on paths with strong transversal slopes. This type of mobile robot can be useful for clearing bushes such as those located at the edges of cultivated fields as, compared to traditional tracked vehicles, they have the advantage of not emitting polluting gases, of having a greater ability to move on very irregular soils, of have lower production and maintenance costs.