Here we focus on the development of a control methodology for Hybrid Wheel Legged Vehicles (HWLV) to improve the mobility of the vehicle on a given surface. The contact forces of the vehicle with the surface being traversed are identified as an important factor in determining the traversability of the surface. Hence a control strategy including the control of the contact forces is proposed. As an outcome of the development, we also analyze the conditions which lead to a rigidly suspended vehicle being incapable of moving on a surface. This advocates the need for articulated suspension and the use of a force feedback control to generate required contact forces to traverse a given terrain.

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