Advances in Robotics Research, Vol. 1, No. 1 (2014) 021-039 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12989/arr.2014.1.1.021 21 Copyright © 2014 Techno-Press, Ltd. http://www.techno-press.org/?journal=arr&subpage=7 ISSN: 2287-4976 (Print), 2287-4984 (Online) Design and development of an automated all-terrain wheeled robot Debesh Pradhan 1 , Jishnu Sen 2 and Nirmal Baran Hui *3 1 Fluid Section & Piping Division, MECON Ltd., Ranchi, India 2 Department of Environmental Control System & Life System, HAL, Banglore, India 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Durgapur, West Bengal, India (Received November 27, 2012, Revised August 6, 2013, Accepted September 7, 2013) Abstract. Due to the rapid progress in the field of robotics, it is a high time to concentrate on the development of a robot that can manoeuvre in all type of landscapes, ascend and descend stairs and sloping surfaces autonomously. This paper presents details of a prototype robot which can navigate in very rough terrain, ascend and descend staircase as well as sloping surface and cross ditches. The robot is made up of six differentially steered wheels and some passive mechanism, making it suitable to cross long ditches and landscape undulation. Static stability of the developed robot have been carried out analytically and navigation capability of the robot is observed through simulation in different environment, separately. Description of embedded system of the robot has also been presented and experimental validation has been made along with some details on obstacle avoidance. Finally the limitations of the robot have been explored with their possible reasons. Keywords: All Terrain Robot (ATR); passive compliance mechanism; static force analysis; embedded systems; automation; simulation; real experiments 1. Introduction All-Terrain Robots (ATRs) are the category of mobile robots that are capable of showcasing excellent off-road performances. They are able to navigate across bumpy and rough terrains. They mainly have wheels or tracks for locomotion. ATRs have various link mechanisms in order to overcome various sized obstacles. It is always desirable that the ATRs will be autonomous, that is, it will sense its environment with the help of sensors and then will take further decision on its own, with the help of instructions. The goal of this work was to conceive and build a mobile robot which will be a wheeled rover having good off-road capabilities, good grip over undulating, rough terrain, variable size obstacle negotiation capability, staircase ascending and descending capability, ditch/crevasse crossing capability and generating stable motion in undulating surface. Quite a large number of researchers tried to design some ATRs through computer simulations. However, development of real ones is limited. It may be due to the huge complexity involved in building them. The book of Genta (2012) is a pioneer one in this field. After a thorough patent search, one American patent (Patent No. 499392, 1991), is found in this context. Owner of this *Corresponding author, Associate Professor, E-mail: nirmalhui@gmail.com