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Active balancing and turning for alpine skiing robots

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2016

Chris Iverach-Brereton ,
Brittany Postnikoff ,
Jacky Baltes  and
Amirhossein Hosseinmemar
Chris Iverach-Brereton
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, MB R3T2N2; e-mails: chrisib@cs.umanitoba.ca; postnikb@myumanitoba.ca; jacky@cs.umanitoba.ca; memar@cs.umanitoba.ca
Brittany Postnikoff
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, MB R3T2N2; e-mails: chrisib@cs.umanitoba.ca; postnikb@myumanitoba.ca; jacky@cs.umanitoba.ca; memar@cs.umanitoba.ca
Jacky Baltes
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, MB R3T2N2; e-mails: chrisib@cs.umanitoba.ca; postnikb@myumanitoba.ca; jacky@cs.umanitoba.ca; memar@cs.umanitoba.ca
Amirhossein Hosseinmemar
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, MB R3T2N2; e-mails: chrisib@cs.umanitoba.ca; postnikb@myumanitoba.ca; jacky@cs.umanitoba.ca; memar@cs.umanitoba.ca
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Abstract

This paper presents our preliminary research into the autonomous control of analpine skiing robot. Based on our previous experience with active balancing ondifficult terrain and developing an ice-skating robot, we have implemented asimple control system that allows the humanoid robot Jennifer to steer around asimple alpine skiing course, brake, and actively control the pitch and roll ofthe skis in order to maintain stability on hills with variable inclination.

The robot steers and brakes by using the edges of the skis to dig into the snow,by inclining both skis to one side the robot can turn in an arc. By rolling theskis outward and pointing the toes together the robot creates a snowplough shapethat rapidly reduces its forward velocity.

To keep the skis in constant contact with the hill we use two independentproportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers to continually adjust therobot’s inclination in the frontal and sagittal planes.

Our experiments show that these techniques are sufficient to allow a smallhumanoid robot to alpine ski autonomously down hills of different inclinationwith variable snow conditions.

Information

Type
Review Article
Information
The Knowledge Engineering Review , Volume 32 , 2017 , e6
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2017 

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