This research proposes a simultaneous path tracking and angular stability control method for omni-wheel mobile robots. Omni-wheel mobile robot platforms allow 3 degree of freedom (DOF) movement, unlike two-wheel mobile robots. Gaining the ability to m...
This research proposes a simultaneous path tracking and angular stability control method for omni-wheel mobile robots. Omni-wheel mobile robot platforms allow 3 degree of freedom (DOF) movement, unlike two-wheel mobile robots. Gaining the ability to move in 3 DOF makes the task of controlling the mobile robot more difficult, therefore 3 DOF control schemes usually divide control tasks into path tracking and heading angle control. However, convergence to the desired path and orientation often takes too much time, and this is often undesirable; a robot with a forward-facing sensor array, for example, should maintain a forward heading angle for obstacle detection, and deviation from a prescribed trajectory is potentially dangerous.
For these reason, this paper proposes a new control method that is able to provide improved path tracking capabilities while also achieving faster heading angle convergence by creating a single control rule that achieves both trajectory tracking and heading angle control. The control rule is generated by the Lyapunov exponential stability method, ensuring that it can conduct stable convergence irrespective of environmental noise. It is shown that the new control method can achieve faster convergence through simulations and experiments in real environments.