Fast Simulation of Vehicles with Non-deformable Tracks

This paper presents a novel technique that allows for both computationally fast and sufficiently plausible simulation of vehicles with non-deformable tracks. The method is based on an effect we have called Contact Surface Motion. A comparison with several other methods for simulation of tracked vehicle dynamics is presented with the aim to evaluate methods that are available off-the-shelf or with minimum effort in general-purpose robotics simulators. The proposed method is implemented as a plugin for the open-source physics-based simulator Gazebo using the Open Dynamics Engine.Comment: Submitted to IROS 201

A Hybrid Approach for Trajectory Control Design

This work presents a methodology to design trajectory tracking feedback control laws, which embed non-parametric statistical models, such as Gaussian Processes (GPs). The aim is to minimize unmodeled dynamics such as undesired slippages. The proposed approach has the benefit of avoiding complex terramechanics analysis to directly estimate from data the robot dynamics on a wide class of trajectories. Experiments in both real and simulated environments prove that the proposed methodology is promising.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure

PIEKF-VIWO: Visual-Inertial-Wheel Odometry using Partial Invariant Extended Kalman Filter

Invariant Extended Kalman Filter (IEKF) has been successfully applied in Visual-inertial Odometry (VIO) as an advanced achievement of Kalman filter, showing great potential in sensor fusion. In this paper, we propose partial IEKF (PIEKF), which only incorporates rotation-velocity state into the Lie group structure and apply it for Visual-Inertial-Wheel Odometry (VIWO) to improve positioning accuracy and consistency. Specifically, we derive the rotation-velocity measurement model, which combines wheel measurements with kinematic constraints. The model circumvents the wheel odometer's 3D integration and covariance propagation, which is essential for filter consistency. And a plane constraint is also introduced to enhance the position accuracy. A dynamic outlier detection method is adopted, leveraging the velocity state output. Through the simulation and real-world test, we validate the effectiveness of our approach, which outperforms the standard Multi-State Constraint Kalman Filter (MSCKF) based VIWO in consistency and accuracy

Analysis of Tread ICRs for Wheeled Skid-Steer Vehicles on Inclined Terrain

The instantaneous centers of rotation (ICRs) for the two treads of skid-steer vehicles moving with low inertia on hard horizontal terrain almost remain with constant local coordinates, which allows to establish an equivalence with differential-drive locomotion. However, this significant kinematic relationship has not been analyzed yet on sloped ground. One relevant difficulty of studying ICR behavior on inclined terrain, even on a flat surface, is the continuous variation of pitch and roll angles while turning. To overcome this problem, this paper analyzes a dynamic simulation of a skid-steer vehicle on horizontal ground where gravity is substituted by an equivalent external force in such a way that pitch and roll are kept constant. Relevant tread ICR variations on inclined ground have been deduced, which have a significant impact on skid-steer kinematics. These new findings have been corroborated experimentally with a four-wheeled mobile robot that turns on an inclined plane.Spanish Project PID2021-122944OB-I0

Cauterizer Technology Increases Cactus Pear Shelf Life

Cactus pear is a food of nutraceutical and functional importance worldwide. Improvements in cactus pear shelf life will allow international 1-month refrigerated shipments for supplying good-quality fruit to the European markets. The perishable fruit is chilling sensitive and hot water treatments by immersion, increased shelf life to 1 month. Harvest tools are important to avoid fruit damage to the stem end, which leads to pathogens attack and fruit decay. A light wire-cutting tool detached 300 fruits h−1 without leaving the worker with pain. A hot cauterizer (HC) performed better than a cold cauterizer (CC) extending fruit shelf life to 2 months; 85% of the HC-processed fruits were marketable after 2-month storage at ambient temperature. After removal of the prickle pear peduncle, the pulp contacts a hot flat metal surface at 200°C. A pressure of 100 kPa during 30 s assures proper heat transfer and surface healing. An automated HC process-line cauterizes 250 kg h−1

Terrain Awareness Using a Tracked Skid-Steering Vehicle With Passive Independent Suspensions

This paper presents a novel approach for terrain characterization based on a tracked skid-steer vehicle with a passive independent suspensions system. A set of physics-based parameters is used to characterize the terrain properties: drive motor electrical currents, the equivalent track, the power spectral density for the vertical accelerations and motor currents. Based on this feature set, the system predicts the type of terrain that the robot traverses. A wide set of experimental results acquired on various surfaces are provided to verify the study in the field, proving its effectiveness for application in autonomous robots

Motion Predicting of Autonomous Tracked Vehicles with Online Slip Model Identification

Precise understanding of the mobility is essential for high performance autonomous tracked vehicles in challenging circumstances, though the complex track/terrain interaction is difficult to model. A slip model based on the instantaneous centers of rotation (ICRs) of treads is presented and identified to predict the motion of the vehicle in a short term. Unlike many research studies estimating current ICRs locations using velocity measurements for feedback controllers, we focus on predicting the forward trajectories by estimating ICRs locations using position measurements. ICRs locations are parameterized over both tracks rolling speeds and the kinematic parameters are estimated in real time using an extended Kalman filter (EKF) without requiring prior knowledge of terrain parameters. Simulation results verify that the proposed algorithm performs better than the traditional method when the pose measuring frequencies are low. Experiments are conducted on a tracked vehicle with a weight of 13.6 tons. Results demonstrate that the predicted position and heading errors are reduced by about 75% and the reduction of pose errors is over 24% in the absence of the real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS)