Explorations of the holonomy of a rolling sphere

Abstract

Consider a rigid body rolling with one point in contact with a fixed surface. Now suppose that the instantaneous point of contact traces out a closed path. As a demonstration of a phenomenon known as holonomy, the body will typically not return to its original orientation. The simplest demonstration of this phenomenon in rigid body dynamics occurs in the motion of a rolling sphere and finds application to path planning and reorientation of spherical robots. Motivated by earlier works of Bryant and Johnson, we establish expressions for the change in orientation of a rolling sphere after completing a rectangular path. We use numerical methods to show that all possible changes in orientation are possible using a single rectangular path. Based on the Euler angle parameterization of a rotation, we develop a more intuitive method to achieve a desired orientation using three rectangular paths. With regards to applications, the paths we discuss can be employed to achieve any desired reorientation of a spherical robot.