KINEMATICS ANALYSIS AND MOTION CONTROL OF A MOBILE ROBOT DRIVEN BY THREE TRACKED VEHICLES

摘要

In this paper, a mobile robot named VicRoB with 6 degrees of freedom (DOFs) driven by three tracked vehicles is designed and analyzed. The robot employs a 3-PPSR parallel configuration. The scheme of the mechanism and the inverse kinematic solution are given. A path planning method of a single tracked vehicle and a coordinated motion planning of three tracked vehicles are proposed. The mechanical structure and the electrical architecture of VicRoB prototype are illustrated. VicRoB can achieve the point-to-point motion mode and the continuous motion mode with employing the motion planning method. The orientation precision of VicRoB is measured in a series of motion experiments, which verifies the feasibility of the motion planning method. This work provides a kinematic basis for the orientation closed loop control of VicRoB whether it works on flat or rough road.