Control in Rough-Terrain

For wheeled rovers, motion optimization is generally related to minimizing wheel slip.Minimizing slip not only limits odometric error but also increases the robot’s climbing performance and traction. Different approaches to slip minimization in rough terrain can be found in the literature. The controller developed in [69] derives from the Anti-lock Breaking System (ABS) and uses the information of wheel slip to correct individual wheel speed. Reference [13] proposes a velocity synchronization algorithm, which minimizes the effect of the wheels “fighting” against each other. The first step of the approach consists in detecting which of the wheels are deviating significantly from the nominal velocity profile. Then a voting scheme is used to compute the required velocity set point change for each individual wheel. Because such methods adapt the wheel speeds when slip has already occurred, they are referred to as reactive approaches.