Path following controller for planar robots with articulated, actuated and independently steerable velocity-limited wheels
Ville Pitkänen, Antti Tikanmäki, Anssi Kemppainen, Juha Röning
Abstract
Pseudo-omnidirectional robots with individually steerable wheels ofïer a good balance between mobility, robustness and load-carrying capacity. However, accurate synchronization of the wheels' steering and rolling speeds is necessary to prevent energy-loss, mechanical stress and wheel slippage due to actuator infighting. This has proven to be a complex problem, especially when the wheels are not fixed to the robot body but are instead connected to it via actuated chains. This paper presents a mathematically simple method consisting of closed-form equations for path following and synchronizing the steering and rolling speeds of planar robots with a variable or fixed footprint, while respecting the velocity limits of each wheel's steering and rolling actuators. The presented method is thoroughly explained and simulation results are presented to show its performance.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{icra2017_pathfollowingcon,
title = {Path following controller for planar robots with articulated, actuated and independently steerable velocity-limited wheels},
author = {Ville Pitkänen and Antti Tikanmäki and Anssi Kemppainen and Juha Röning},
booktitle = {ICRA 2017},
year = {2017}
}