Dynamic Modeling and Analysis of 9-DOF Omnidirectional Legged Vehicle

Abstract

The omnidirectional legged vehicle with steering-rails has a specific mechanism feature, and it can be controlled flexibly and accurately in omnidirectional motion. Currently there lacks further research in this area. In this paper, the mechanical characteristics of independent walking control and steering control and its kinematics principle are introduced, and a vehicle has a composite motion mode of parallel link mechanism and steering mechanism is presented. The motion direction control of the proposed vehicle is only dependant on its steering rails, so its motion is simple and effective to control. When the relative motion between the walking and steering is controlled cooperatively, the vehicle can walk perfectly. By controlling the steering rails, the vehicle can walk along arbitrary trajectory on the ground. To achieve a good result of motion control, an equivalent manipulator model needs to be built. In terms of the mechanism feature and the kinematic principle, the simplified manipulator model consists of a rail in stance phase, a rail in swing phase, and an equivalent leg. Considering the ground surface slope during walking, a parameter of inclination angle is added. Based on such a RPP manipulator model, the equations of motion are derived by means of Lagrangian dynamic approach. To verify the dynamic equations, the motion of the manipulator model is simulated based on linear and nonlinear motion planning. With the same model and motion parameters, the dynamic equations can be solved by Matlab and the calculation data can be gained. Compared with the simulation data, the result confirms the manipulator dynamic equations are correct. As a result of such special characteristics of the legged mechanism with steering rails, it has a potential broad application prospects. The derivation of dynamics equation could benefit the motion control of the mechanism.