Model-Based Analysis of the Accuracy of Tracking Control and Energy Efficiency of a Six-Wheeled Skid-Steered Robot

Abstract

This article concerns the modeling and motion control of a mobile robot with six independently driven and non-steered wheels. The main research issue is analyzing the influence of the structure of the control system and wheel track on the control accuracy and energy efficiency during robot motion on horizontal paved ground. For this purpose, the kinematic relationships for the robot are discussed and a simplified dynamics model for control applications is developed. The robot’s dynamics model takes into account the most important phenomena of the wheel interaction with the paved ground, including slip. In addition, it is supplemented with a model of the robot’s drive units. Two versions of the control system were adopted for analysis, i.e., with the wheels’ controller only and additionally equipped with a pose controller. Simulation studies were carried out for the developed robot dynamics model and the analyzed versions of the control system in order to investigate the influence of the track width of the wheels and the structure of the control system on motion accuracy and energy efficiency. In order to quantitatively compare the results for the analyzed solutions, quality indices were introduced. The results of the simulation research indicate the influence of the track width of the wheels on the accuracy of motion when using the wheels’ controller, as well as its impact on energy efficiency. Moreover, they show that it is possible to significantly improve the accuracy of motion by using an additional pose controller, which allows limiting the impact of the non-optimal geometric parameters of the robot and the slip of the wheels on trajectory tracking errors. However, the addition of the pose controller does not significantly affect the energy efficiency during the robot’s motion, which may be even worse in this case.