Relating Torque and Slip in an Odometric Model for an Autonomous Agricultural Vehicle

Abstract

This paper describes a method of considering the slip that is experienced by the wheels of an agricultural autonomous guided vehicle such that the accuracy of dead-reckoning navigation may be improved. Traction models for off-road locomotion are reviewed. Using experimental data from an agricultural AGV, a simplified form suitable for vehicle navigation is derived. This simplified model relates measurements of the torques applied to the wheels with wheel slip, and is used as the basis of an observation model for odometric sensor data in the vehicle's extended Kalman filter (EKF) navigation system. The slip model parameters are included as states in the vehicle EKF so that the vehicle may adapt to changing surface properties. Results using real field data and a simulation of the vehicle EKF show that positional accuracy can be increased by a slip-aware odometric model, and that when used as part of a multi-sensor navigation system, the consistency of the EKF state estimator is improved.