The purpose of this project was to design a set of custom rubber treads for the ECHO chassis. This improved maneuverability on ice and prevented the robot from getting stuck in the snow while driving.
For this project, I designed the hardware to make the treads compatible with our off-the-self Clearpath Husky body, found an international supplier to manufacture the treads, rebuilt the rover with the new hardware, and prepared it for another season of testing in Antarctica.
Concept sketch.
Solidworks model of the idler plate assembly, highlighting the reversable feature of the design. This allows the tread tension to be configured manually, with either a crowned or flat contact plane.
