How to adjust center of mass when going over obstacles?

Question

Hi I have a robot currently setup using ROS-Kinetic and Gazebo. The machine has four wheels and a differential driving system. I am testing how the machine goes over street curbs and often times as the angle of the machine changes it falls backward. The real robot I am modeling adjusts its center of mass to go over obstacles such as curbs. Do you guys have any suggestions on how I should go about this feature?

---

Originally posted by MRhinelander on Gazebo Answers with karma: 5 on 2018-06-15

Post score: 0

Answer 1

How about adding a link which holds the amount of mass you want to move, and connecting that link to the rest of the robot by a prismatic joint you can control?

---

Originally posted by chapulina with karma: 7504 on 2018-06-15

This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 0

---

Original comments

Comment by MRhinelander on 2018-06-15:
I actually do have something like that. I have a wheel assembly on either side of the machine. Each with two wheels. I could hook this up to the main chassis with a prismatic joint. What is the best way to go about controlling this joint?

Comment by chapulina on 2018-06-15:
I'd say similarly to how you're controlling the rest of the robot... Since you're using ROS you may want to use that here too