Mobile Robots Navigation

Mobile robots navigation includes different interrelated activities: (i) perception, as obtaining and interpreting sensory information; (ii) exploration, as the strategy that guides the robot to select the next direction to go; (iii) mapping, involving the construction of a spatial representation by using the sensory information perceived; (iv) localization, as the strategy to estimate the robot position within the spatial map; (v) path planning, as the strategy to find a path towards a goal location being optimal or not; and (vi) path execution, where motor actions are determined and adapted to environmental changes. The book addresses those activities by integrating results from the research work of several authors all over the world. Research cases are documented in 32 chapters organized within 7 categories next described

Instantaneous centre of rotation based motion control for omnidirectional mobile robots with sidewards off-centred wheels

AZIMUT-3 is a nonholonomic omnidirectional platform design using sidewards off-centred compliant wheels. This design makes it possible to experiment with the use of the chassis’ instantaneous centre of rotation (ICR) for motion control. Research on ICR-based motion controllers has focused on handling structural singularities and misses a more general consideration of the chassis’ kinematic and physical constraints like steering, velocity and acceleration constraints. This paper presents the design of an ICR-based motion controller for AZIMUT-3. Leveraging a new parametrization of the motion state space and the associated representation in R3 (collectively referred to as the H representation) and adapting a time scaling principle initially developed for manipulator trajectories, the designed motion controller is able to handle actuators coordination and their physical limits, as well as structural singularities. Results of tests done with the platform are presented, demonstrating the applicability of the proposed motion controller in efficiently handling these issues