Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T02:23:31.530Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Optimal kinematic path tracking control of mobile robots with front steering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2009

Summary

This work concerns the class of wheeled mobile robots with single axis front steering. Because of the relatively low speed of these vehicles their dynamic properties have little effect on their path tracking behaviour. Their motion is, moreover, on a flat environment and can be assumed two dimensional.

The kinematics of motion of such a vehicle can be utilized for design of control strategies for maintaining path following stability. In this paper, optimal control technique is implemented to such a system. First, the state space equations governing the motion are derived. The orientation error and the offset from a path form the states and the steering angle is the control input to the system. An optimal controller to minimize the two errors and the steering angle is then sought. The conditions for the existence of the feedback matrix are discussed. The controller structure is defined in terms of the forward speed of the vehicle and, thus, has the advantage of being flexible for speed changes. Numerical illustrative examples, however, demonstrate that variation of the speed has no effect on the controller structure.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Wickens, A.H., “Dynamics of Actively Guided VehiclesVehicle System Dynamics 20, 219242 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Hemami, A., Mehrabi, M.G. and Cheng, R.M.H.Synthesis of an Optimal Control law for Path Tracking in Mobile RobotsAutomatica 28, No. 2, 383387 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Fenton, R.E., Melocik, G.C. and Olson, K.W., “On the Steering of Automated Vehicles: Theory and ExperimentIEEE Trans.Automatic Control AC-21, 306314 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Alexander, J.C. and Maddocks, J.H.On the Kinematics of Wheeled Mobile RobotsInt. J.Robotic Research, 8, No. 5, 1527 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Muir, P.F. and Neuman, C.P., “Kinematic Modelling of Wheeled Mobile RobotsJ.Robotic Systems 4, No. 2, 281340 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Muir, P.F. and Neuman, C.P., “Kinematic Modelling for Feedback Control of an Omnidirectional Mobile Robot” IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation(1987) pp. 17721778.Google Scholar
7.Kanayama, Y., Kimura, Y., Miyazaki, F. and Noguchi, T., “A Stable Tracking Control Method for an Autonomous Mobile Robot” IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation,Cincinnati, OH(1990) pp. 384389.Google Scholar
8.Hammond, G.C., Automated Guided Vehicle Systems (IFS Publication, Bedford, 1986).Google Scholar
9.Steer, B., “Trajectory Planning for a Mobile RobotInt.J.Robotics Research 8, No. 5, 314 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Grattinger, T.J. and Kerogh, B.H., “Evaluation and Time Scaling of Trajectories for Wheeled Mobile RobotsASME J.Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control 111, 222231 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Larcombe, M.H.E., “Tracking Stability of Wire Guided Vehicles” Proc. 1st Int. Conf. on Automated Guided Vehicle Systems, Stratford-upon-Avon,U.K. (1981) pp. 137144.Google Scholar
12.Julliere, M., Marce, L. and Place, H., “A Guidance System for a Mobile Robot”, Proc. 13th ISIR/Robot 7 Conf.Chicago, 13.58–13.68 (1983).Google Scholar
13.Borenstein, J. and Koren, Y., “Motion Control Analysis of a Mobile RobotASME J. of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control 109, 7379 (1987).Google Scholar
14.Hemami, A., Mehrabi, M.G. and Cheng, R.M.H., “A New Control Strategy for Tracking in Mobile Robots and AGV's“, IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation,Cincinnati, Ohio (1990) pp. 11241127.Google Scholar
15.Saha, S.K. and Angeles, J., “Kinematics and Dynamics of a Three-Wheeled 2-DOF AGV”, IEEE Int.Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Scottsdale, Arizona, 1572–1577 (1989) pp. 15721577.Google Scholar
16.Mehrabi, M.G., Hemami, A. and Cheng, R.M.H., “Analysis of Steering Control in Vehicles with Two Independent Left and Right Traction Wheels”, Proc. ICAR 91, Pisa (1991) pp. 16341637.Google Scholar
17.Athans, M. and Falb., P.L.Optimal Control (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1966).Google Scholar