UNUSUAL LOCOMOTION (wheels, tracks, walking, reptation)

                      The text is at the bottom of the page

I - Wheels

The wheel, invented by the Sumerians (in modern Iraq) 3000 BC, represented the most important advances in transportation. When you know that 80% of human activities for transport, we guess its importance. But the wheel, to adjust the field, presented by the following numerous variants.

1 - In 1938, R. G. LeTourneau used the real wheel with flotation tires witch were based on the aircraft tires for Tournapull Model A. Firestone manufactured them in molds belonging to LeTourneau.

2 - William Albee invented in 1955 Rolligons, very large and soft rollers for muddy terrains. Catco employs about thirty Rolligons in Alaska to preserve the environment and Goodyear markets a tire resembling the Rolligon, the Terra-tire. http://www.rolligon.com/

3 - In the fifties, Nicholas Straussler conceived too a large tire without sidewall, the tire "Lypsoïd". We see it here mounted on a Bareiros truck. He also fitted Kraka and Tricar FN-AS 24.

4 - For Elie P. Aghnides, the hemispherical wheels of his Rhino prototype built by Marmon-Herrington in 1954, was the ideal propulsion, the vehicle could not theoretically roll over. http://www.amphibiousvehicle.net/frameproto.html

5 - Ernst Meili became known in 1958 with the Metrac but he had already built in 1943 the wheeled spring prototype to mitigate the lack of rubber.

6 - Terrastar of the Lockheed Corporation resumed in 1967 the old principle of the star wheel to climb the barriers. The craft turned out better in the deep mud and water.
http://www.visi.com~dc/tristar/bkground.htm 

7 - RUC : Riverine Utility Craft (picture)of Chrysler Corporation and WES Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, in 1969, travelled at 46 km/h on marshy terrain. Also Ford tractors had been equipped in 1928 of two Archimedean screws, some of them worked a long period in the 30s on a building site in the Sierra Nevada. Japan also tried  scew vehicles. They failed on dry soils and sand but in Netherlands, the same principle is always applied on.

8 - Many Kopinsky patents on elliptical wheels exist but there were no prototype. This form of wheel was designed to climb over obstacles and increase traction. The idea of square wheels exists too.

9 - Rotoped, invented by Julius Mackerle in 1968, consisted of shaped tubes balloon. To move, a distributor inflated rear balloons, emptying those of front and the vehicle moved on by gravity. The lack of torque and slip ensured good progress on soft ground.

II - Tracks

The first inventor is Mr. d'Herman in 1713. Clement Ader, father of aviation, took the patent of a train track in 1866. It's Horsnsby who built a tractor with only two tracks (no tiller wheel) which he sold the patent to Ben Holt in 1905.

10 - J.-A. Bombardier invented a soft and silent caterpillar in the 30's on his snowmobile. Its patent of additional caterpillar tractors track in the 50's made sales of the brand rebound. It that became famous later in the snow-bikes with the Ski-doo. http://museebombardier.com/fr/content/jab/biographie.htm

11 - In 1980, the Finncat snowmobile presented a directional caterpillar instead of skis in front. Many patents exist on this subject since 1904, that is to say from the beginning. With this system, they could then move elsewhere than on snow. http://www.geocities.com/finncat2002/album1.html

12 - The amphibious Marsh Buggies equipped with  tracks replace vehicles with huge floating wheels  of the fifties. The crossbar of the track surround the using floats bends. The main brands are in the USA, in the Nordic countries and Japan. http://wilcomarshbuggies.com/aboutus.html  and / or: http://www.marshmaster.com/

13 - Bonmartini in 1963 combining the tire and the track which should provide some gentle running of the tracked gear.

14 - The Yeti looks like a star wheel as the Terrastar on which they have added a caterpillar : it rolls or all revolves around the central axis. Invention by Peter Sullivan in 1984 and marketed at the time by 4x4 Developments Ltd.

15 - Bertelsen in 1986 thought he could adapt the principle of air-cushion to the pneumatic track. http://www.aeromobile.com/airtrack_article1.PDF

16 - PATA of Ling-Temco-Vought Aerospace from 1960. It had crawlers equipped with air-filled chambers. The focus was on problems of overheating and punctures.

17 - The Airoll of Borg Warner in 1962 was the tracked counterpart of the Terrastar wheeled star. It was traveling at 40 mph and excelled in the sloughs. Subject also to punctures, they built seven copies, however. http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/PDFDocs/1969sep_oct/artp16_69so.pdf

18 - According to a Kitchen's patent in the 30's, the Loopwheel of Lockheed in 1970 was a curved elastic and light strip of titanium alloy for Mars robots and land vehicles. The vehicle ELMS (1985) had four independent Loopwheels and could run on the slopes while remaining horizontal.
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/msad28apr98_1b.htm

III - Walking Vehicles and Reptation

The idea of setting legs to a vehicle are longstanding : by imitating humans or animals, they should be able to climb the turbulent fields. The "legs" proved complicated and slow despite the advances in computer technology. In labs around the world, most of the ‘walkers-robots' (or other "Jumpers ") need hard ground and flat. In earthmoving, simple "skates" are used since 1913.

19 - The walking draglines skates were adopted in the early of twentieth century : they had more resistant than the caterpillars. A dragline Buckyrus Erie is represented.

20 - Bibault fitted to the 80's chassis of aquatic shovels with legs supporting the floats and could slide in the rails, which is also a form of walking. It was very convenient for the release of muddy shores. This unique model is still working.

21 - R. G. LeTourneau created the Tree Stomper Model 6-120 in 1965 to clear very little lift land where Jungle Crusher sunk. Well suited because of its large surface contact, the craft was moving in advancing his skates. Very powerful in the marshy land covered with dense vegetation,  it proved however vulnerable because of its weight.

22 - Plustech, a subsidiary of John Deere, recently built forest walkers prototype. It's very impressive : http://www.fma-tim.com/fr/dossiers/videos.php?v=walker  or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gk-yQ1H3M8&mode=related&search

23 - Walking Truck of General Electric in 1966, whose legs reproduced the movements of the driver by servomechanisms, could walk at 8 km / h and carry loads of 250 kg over huge obstacles. It was a fine performance in an age where computers hardly existed. http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/Museum/Cybernetic.htm

24 - As the most current Big Dog of Boston Dynamics, he can walk at 5 km / h with 50 kg payload on slopes of 35 °. It does not reverse even during a side impact. A gasoline engine operates pumps and hydraulic cylinders. http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

25 - The Millipede, built during the WWI, was a walking machine based on the change of wheels and chains.

26 - The Rhex of University of Michigan has 6 legs, which actually behave like wheels. http://www.rhex.net/

27 - The snake robot OT-4 at the University of Michigan can overcome significant obstacles. Its propulsion is provided not by crawling but by tracks on the four sides. It comprises 7 elements pitch and direction (not roll) controlled articulation. Long and narrow, the robot can squeeze through the rubble at disaster. http://www.engin.umich.edu/research/mrl/OmniTread_Video.html

During the 50's and 70's, Mr. G. Bekker was the theoretician of land and lunar off-road locomotion and frame articulated vehicles, which move forward consistently through their joints for a long length of contact with the ground. Where the terrain falls away, the other modules take over. It was subsequently found that the benefits of such structures (and disadvantages) were not worth the extra cost of the vehicle. Only LeTourneau fashioned land trains . Nowadays, the achievements have changed and laboratories offer in another registry, snake robots, vehicles which incorporate the same principles as those of Bekker but smaller, longer and crammed with electronic.

Will there be one day the universal system of locomotion able to replace good old wheel to move faster, but anywhere ? One could perhaps try the Piaseky Flying Jeep (1957): http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/Museum/Airjeep.htm  , but that's another story !