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Obstacle crossing stability research of the swing arm deformable tracked robot in large scale sheep farm and cold climate

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Abstract

The conventional tracked robot has poor obstacle crossing ability and stability when facing special terrain in north China especially in Xinjiang large scale sheep farm, and the practical application effect in winter cold climate is not considered. This paper designs a swing arm deformable tracked robot. Solves the centroid coordinates and the swing arm position, analyzes the robot obstacle crossing ability in sheep farm special terrain. Based on the stability cone theory, judges the robot obstacle crossing stability. Simulates the cold climate condition, sets the smooth surface dynamic and static frictional coefficient of steps, slopes and gullies model, carries out obstacle crossing and stability simulations. Develops the robot and swing arm demonstrated experiment in sheep farm with height about 15 cm step, tilt about 25° slope and depth about 15 cm gully under − 25 °C cold winter outdoor environment. Verifies that the robot can dynamically form multiple support points through the collaborative control of the four swing arms and the main track as well as the collaboration between the swing arms, ensuring the balance and stability of obstacle crossing in cold climate.

Data availability

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author and the second author. In addition, due to the software setting, some simulation data is not easy to be reproduced, but we can provide data calculation method and obtain data of similar time period.

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Funding

This research is supported by the Science and technology plan project of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps(2024DB030); the Project of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Machinery(XDNJ2023005).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832000, China

    Feng Bai, Haifeng Yuan & Za Kan

  2. Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Machinery, Shihezi, 832000, China

    Feng Bai, Haifeng Yuan & Za Kan

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300130, China

    Minglu Zhang & Xiaojun Zhang

Authors

  1. Feng Bai
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  2. Haifeng Yuan
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  3. Za Kan
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  4. Minglu Zhang
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  5. Xiaojun Zhang
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Feng Bai and Haifeng Yuan; methodology, Feng Bai and Haifeng Yuan; validation, Feng Bai and Haifeng Yuan; formal analysis, Feng Bai, Haifeng Yuan, Za Kan, Minglu Zhang and Xiaojun Zhang; data curation, Feng Bai and Haifeng Yuan; writing—original draft preparation, Feng Bai and Haifeng Yuan; writing—review and editing, Feng Bai, Haifeng Yuan, Za Kan, Minglu Zhang and Xiaojun Zhang; supervision, Feng Bai, Haifeng Yuan, Za Kan, Minglu Zhang and Xiaojun Zhang; project administration, Feng Bai; funding acquisition, Feng Bai.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to
Feng Bai.

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Bai, F., Yuan, H., Kan, Z. et al. Obstacle crossing stability research of the swing arm deformable tracked robot in large scale sheep farm and cold climate.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45890-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-45890-7

Keywords

  • Cold climate
  • Large scale sheep farm
  • Tracked robot
  • Swing arm deformable
  • Obstacle crossing stability

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