Wheeled Mobile Robots

Kinematics and Control

9/1/2016

Dr. T. Asokan
E-mail: [email protected]

Contents
Locomotion
Wheeled Locomotion

Wheel design
Wheel configuration
Stability
Manuverability

Kinematics
Kinematic models and constraints
Maneuverability
Motion control

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Seekur robot

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Google Autonomous Car

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WHEELED MOBILE ROBOT (WMR)

A robot capable of locomotion on a surface solely through the actuation of

wheel assemblies mounted on the robot and in contact with the surface. (Muir

and Newman, 1986)

A wheel assembly is a device which provides or allows relative motion between
its mount and surface on which it is intended to have a single point of rolling
contact.

Introduction to Robotics

WMR
A WMR consists of a main body which is able to move on a
surface of travel by means of one or more wheels.
Each wheel of a WMR may be considered as an open
chain; however, since each wheel connects a common
surface of travel the WMR is a closedchain.

Introduction to Robotics

Combination of various physical (hardware) and

computational (software) components

A collection of subsystems:

Locomotion: how the robot moves through its

environment
Sensing: how the robot measures properties of itself
and its environment
Control: how the robot generate physical actions
Reasoning: how the robot maps measurements into
actions
Communication: how the robots communicate with
each other or with an outside operator
Introduction to Robotics

Locomotion the process of causing a robot to move.

Kinematics study of the mathematics of motion

without considering the forces that affect the motion.

In order to produce motion, forces must be applied to the robot

Motor output, payload

Deals with the geometric relationships that govern the system

Deals with the relationship between control parameters and the
behavior of a system.

Dynamics study of motion in which these forces are

modeled

Deals with the relationship between force and motions.

Introduction to Robotics

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Locomotion Concepts: Principles Found in Nature

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Locomotion concepts

Concepts found in nature difficult to imitate technically

Most technical systems use wheels or caterpillars
Rolling is most efficient, but not found in nature
Nature never invented the wheel !
However, the movement of a walking biped is close to rolling
Biped walking mechanism
not to far from real rolling.
rolling of a polygon with side length equal to the length of the step.
the smaller the step gets, the more the polygon tends to a circle
(wheel).
However, fully rotating joint was not developed in nature.

Locomotion is the process of causing a robot to move.

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Types of locomotion in mobile robots

Wheeled locomotion

Legged locomotion

The fewer legs the more complicated

becomes locomotion
Stability - at least three legs are required for
static stability
During walking some legs are lifted
thus loosing stability?
For statically stable walking at least 6
legs are required
babies have to learn for quite a while until
they are able to stand or even walk on their
two legs.

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Wheels are the most appropriate solution

for most applications
Three wheels are sufficient to guarantee
stability
With more than three wheels an
appropriate suspension is required
Selection of wheels depends on the
application

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physical interaction between the vehicle and its environment.

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Types of Legged robots

Hopping machine
Bipedal
Quadruped
Hexapod

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Mobile Robot Locomotion

Differential Drive
two driving wheels (plus roller-ball for balance)
simplest drive mechanism
sensitive to the relative velocity of the two wheels (small error result in
different trajectories, not just speed)

Steered wheels (tricycle, bicycles, wagon)

Steering wheel + rear wheels
cannot turn 90
limited radius of curvature

Synchronous Drive
Omni-directional
Car Drive (Ackerman Steering)
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Wheeled Locomotion
Wheel Design

Wheel Geometry/configuration
Stability
Maneuverability
Controllability
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WHEEL DESIGN
Castor Wheel
Two degrees of freedom

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Wheel configurations

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Stability
Minimum two wheels needed for static
stability (provided Centre of mass is below
wheel axle)
Stability can be improved by adding more
wheels

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Maneuverability
Ability to move in any direction irrespective of
the orientation of the robot
Degree of Maneuverability: The overall
degrees of freedom that a robot can manipulate
Degree of maneuverability= Degree of
mobility+ Degree of steerability

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Degree of Mobility
The degree of freedom of the robot motion

Cannot move
anywhere (No
ICR)

Fixed arc motion

(Only one ICR)
Degree of mobility : 1

Degree of mobility : 0

Fully free motion

Variable arc
motion (line of
ICRs)

( ICR can be located

at any position)

Degree of mobility : 2
ICR: Instantaneous Centre of Rotation
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Degree of mobility : 3

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Degree of Steerability
The number of centered orientable wheels that can be steered
independently in order to steer the robot

No centered orientable wheels

Degree of steerability : 0

One centered orientable

wheel
Two mutually
independent
centered
orientable wheels

Two mutually
dependent centered
orientable wheels

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Degree of steerability : 1
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Degree of steerability : 2
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Degree of Maneuverability

The overall degrees of freedom that a robot can manipulate:

M m s

Degree of Mobility

Degree of Steerability

Examples of robot types (degree of mobility, degree of steerability)

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Synchro drive
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Mobile Robot Kinematics

Aim
Description of mechanical behavior of the robot for
design and control
Similar to robot manipulator kinematics
However, mobile robots can move unbound with respect
to its environment
there is no direct way to measure the robots position
Position must be integrated over time
Leads to inaccuracies of the position (motion) estimate
-> the number 1 challenge in mobile robotics

Understanding mobile robot motion starts with

understanding wheel constraints placed on the robots
mobility
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Kinematics Model
Goal:

establish the robot speed x y T as a function of the

wheel speeds i, steering angles i , steering speeds i and the
geometric parameters of the robot (configuration coordinates).
forward kinematics
x
y f ( 1 , n , 1 , m , 1 , m )

yI
v(t)
s(t)

Inverse kinematics
1 n 1 m 1 m T f ( x, y,)
x
why not
y f ( 1 , n , 1 , m )
-> not straight forward
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xI

Representing Robot Position

Representing robot within an arbitrary initial
Y
frame
I

Inertial frame: X I ,YI

Robot frame: X R ,YR

YR
XR

T
Robot position: I x y
Mapping between the two frames
T

I R R R x y

R R I R x y
1

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XI

cos sin 0
R 1 R( )T sin cos 0
0
0
1
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Example
cos sin 0
R 1 R( )T sin cos 0
0
0
1

-1

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Forward Kinematic Models

(Refer chap.3 (sec. 3.2.2), Roland Siegwart )

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Example
If a mobile robot parameters are given as
theta=pi/2, r=1, l=1 and the wheel speeds are
4 and 2 , find the velocity of the robot wrt
inertial frame.

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Wheel Kinematic Constraints: Assumptions

Movement on a horizontal plane

Point contact of the wheels
Wheels not deformable
Pure rolling
v = 0 at contact point

YI

YR

No slipping, skidding or sliding

No friction for rotation around contact point
Steering axes orthogonal to the surface
Wheels connected by rigid frame (chassis)

XR

XI

Rolling constraint: Wheel must roll in the appropriate direction when the
motion takes place
Sliding Constraint: No lateral slippage- wheel must not slide orthogonal to the
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wheel
plane

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Wheel Kinematic Constraints:

Fixed Standard Wheel

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-1
-1

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Rolling constraint
-1

-1

Sliding constraint
-1

J1 f R( )I J 2 0
-1
C1 f R( ) I 0

Suppose that the wheel A is in position such that

a = 0 and = 0
This would place the contact point of the wheel on XI with the
plane of the wheel oriented parallel to YI. If = 0, then this
sliding constraint reduces to:

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Wheel Kinematic Constraints:

Steered Standard Wheel

Rolling constraint

-1

-1

Sliding constraint
-1
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J1 ( s ) R( )I J 2 0
-1
C1 ( s ) R( 50
)I 0

Wheel Kinematic Constraints:

Castor Wheel

Any motion orthogonal to

the wheel plane must be
balanced by an equivalent
and opposite amount of
castor steering motion.
Given any
robot chasis
.
motion, I , there exists a
some value for spin speed
and steering speed such
that the constraints are
met.

Rolling constraint

-1
-1

Additional (Rolling) constraint

cos(a )
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sin(a ) d l sin R( ) I d 0
-1

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J1 ( s ) R( )I J. 2 0
-1

C1( s ) R( )I C2 ( 51s ) 0

Wheel Kinematic Constraints:

Swedish Wheel

What will
happen if =0 or
90?
-1

J1 ( s ) R( )I J 2 0
-1
C ( ) R( ) 0
1

sin(a )
cos(a )
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cos(a ) l cos( )R( ) I r cos 0

-1 .

-1 .

sin(a ) l sin( )R( ) I r sin

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.
rsw sw 0
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Wheel Kinematic Constraints:

Spherical Wheel

-1

-1
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Robot Kinematic Constraints

Given a robot with M wheels
each wheel imposes zero or more constraints on the robot motion
only fixed and steerable standard wheels impose constraints

Suppose we have a total of N=Nfixed + Nsteerable

We can develop the equations for the constraints in matrix forms:
Rolling
-1

J1( s ) R( )I J 2 0
J1 f J diag(r r )
J1 ( s )
2
1
N

J1s ( s )

N f N s 3

Lateral movement

C1 ( s ) R( )I 0
-1

C1 f
C1 ( s )

C
(

)
1s s

(t )

f (t )
(t )
s

size N f N s 1

N f N s 3

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Example: Differential Drive Robot

yI
v(t)
s(t)

xI
-1

-1

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Example: Omidirectional robot

Swedish Wheel

sin(a )
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-1 .

cos(a ) l cos( )R( ) I r cos 0

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Summary

Wheeled locomotion
Wheel Design
Wheel Geometry/configuration
Stability
Maneuverability
Wheel Kinematic constraints
Robot Kinematic constraints
Motion Control

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Assignment II

(x

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y )

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Project/Seminar
Group Projects (max. four members)

Select your team members

Choose a project
Inform the TA
Carry out the work
Submit a report along with a ppt. presentation

Individual Seminar

Choose a topic
Inform the TA
Make a report
Make a presentation

Seminar presentations to start from Oct first week

Project
to be presented
before end sem. Exam.
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