An approach to computer control for legged vehicles

Observation of the locomotion of animals and human beings in difficult terrain makes it quite obvious that legged locomotion offers substantial mobility advantages over conventional wheeled or tracked systems. However, effective adaptation of legged locomotion principles to off-road vehicles has to date been frustrated by the complexity of the joint coordination control problem and by the lack of suitable sources of power for individual leg joints. This paper is addressed to the first problem and is intended to show that some of the techniques used in aircraft autopilots can be adapted to legged vehicle control. The main results presented are derived from a computer simulation study of a system in which vehicle speed and direction are determined by a human operator while individual joint commands are generated automatically by a digital computer. Present indications are that such a vehicle might be as easy to control as a conventional wheeled or tracked automotive system.     

考虑间隙反馈控制时滞的磁浮车辆稳定性研究

常导磁吸型(EMS)磁悬浮列车在悬浮控制中的每个环节,时滞是不可避免的,当时滞超过一定程度后,系统有可能失稳.本文针对EMS磁浮列车控制环节的临界时滞与车辆参数(如运行速度、反馈控制增益、导轨参数和悬挂参数)的关系开展研究.建立了磁浮车辆/导轨耦合动力学模型,车辆包含1节车辆和4个磁浮架,考虑车辆的10个自由度,每个磁浮架上包含4个悬浮电磁铁.导轨模拟为一系列简支Bernoulli-Euler梁,采用模态叠加法对导轨振动方程进行求解.采用传统线性电磁力模型实现车辆和轨道的耦合.采用比例-微分控制算法对电磁铁电流进行反馈控制,实现车辆稳定悬浮,并假设时滞均发生在控制环节,且只考虑间隙反馈控制环节的时滞.采用四阶龙格库塔法对耦合系统动力学方程进行求解,编写了数值仿真程序,计算得到车辆导轨耦合系统在考虑间隙反馈控制时滞时的响应.将系统运动发散时的时滞大小视为临界时滞,开展了参数规律影响分析.通过分析,给出了提高时滞条件下车辆稳定性的方法,包括增大导轨的弯曲刚度和阻尼比,减小间隙反馈控制增益并增大速度反馈控制增益,以及增大二系悬挂阻尼.      

Direct neural discrete control of hypersonic flight vehicle

This paper investigates the discrete neural control for flight path angle and velocity of a generic hypersonic flight vehicle (HFV). First, strict-feedback form is set up for the attitude subsystem considering flight path angle, pitch angle, and pitch rate by altitude-flight path angle transformation. Secondly, the direct Neural Network?(NN) control is proposed for attitude subsystem via back-stepping scheme. The direct design is employed for system uncertainty approximation with less online tuned NN parameters and there is no need to know the information of the upper bound of control gain during the controller design. Thirdly, with error feedback and NN design, the semiglobal uniform ultimate boundedness (SGUUB) stability is guaranteed of the closed-loop system. Similar NN control is applied on velocity subsystem. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed controller is verified by a simulation example.     

The effect of waist twisting on walking speed of an amphibious salamander like robot

Amphibious salamanders often swing their waist to coordinate quadruped walking in order to improve their crawling speed. A robot with a swing waist joint, like an amphibious salamander, is used to mimic this locomotion. A control method is designed to allow the robot to maintain the rotational speed of its legs continuous and avoid impact between its legs and the ground. An analytical expression is established between the amplitude of the waist joint and the step length. Further, an optimization amplitude is obtained corresponding to the maximum stride. The simulation results based on automatic dynamic analysis of mechanical systems (ADAMS) and physical experiments verify the rationality and validity of this expression.     

柔性梁受迫振动时滞变结构控制的试验研究

时滞反馈控制是一种利用时滞进行系统控制的策略,目前对该控制策略的研究多是在理论上进行探讨,少有试验研究报道. 以受简谐激励的柔性悬臂梁为对象,开展时滞反馈控制的试验研究,给出了一个多时滞控制律的设计方法. 首先给出悬臂梁系统含有时滞项的控制模态状态方程; 然后对方程进行离散化和一种特殊的状态变量增广,得到形式上不含有时滞项的标准差分方程; 最后使用离散变结构控制的方法设计控制律. 试验中采用压电片作为作动器和外界激励,应变片作为传感器,分别考虑单时滞和双时滞的情况,通过试验验证了时滞反馈控制的可行性和有效性.关键词:柔性悬臂梁;变结构控制;时滞;实验      

The development of a soil trafficability model for legged vehicles on granular soils

This paper extends previous research in planetary microrover locomotion system analysis at the University of Surrey through the development of a legged microrover mobility model. This model compares various two- and three-dimensional soil cutting models to determine the most applicable model to legged locomotion in deformable soils, and is flexible to use any of these models depending on the leg shape, sinkage and other conditions. This baseline draught force model is used for determining the soil forces available for legged vehicle locomotion, as well as the soil thrust available to the vehicle footprint. Empirical investigations were performed with a robotic arm in planetary soil simulants to validate a legged mobility model through determination of the draft force of a robotic leg pushing through soil at constant and varying sinkage levels. The resulting locomotion performance model will be used to predict the ability of the legged vehicle to traverse a specific soil. An introduction to the planetary soil simulants used in this study (SSC-1 quartz-based sand and SSC-2 garnet-based sand) and the process used to determine their mechanical properties is also briefly presented to provide a baseline for this research.     

Computational dynamics: theory and applications of multibody systems

Multibody system dynamics is an essential part of computational dynamics a topic more generally dealing with kinematics and dynamics of rigid and flexible systems, finite elements methods, and numerical methods for synthesis, optimization and control including nonlinear dynamics approaches. The theoretical background of multibody dynamics is presented, the efficiency of recursive algorithms is shown, methods for dynamical analysis are summarized, and applications to vehicle dynamics and biomechanics are reported. In particular, the wear of railway wheels of high-speed trains and the metabolical cost of human locomotion is analyzed using multibody system methods.     

A feedback linearization design for the control of vehicle’s lateral dynamics

In this paper, the feedback linearization scheme is applied to the control of vehicle’s lateral dynamics. Based on the assumption of constant driving speed, a second-order nonlinear lateral dynamical model is adopted for controller design. It was observed in (Liaw, D.C., Chung, W.-C. in 2006 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, 2006) that the saddle-node bifurcation would appear in vehicle dynamics with respect to the variation of the front wheel steering angle, which might result in spin and/or system instability. The vehicle dynamics at the saddle node bifurcation point is derived and then decomposed as an affine nominal model plus the remaining term of the overall system dynamics. Feedback linearization scheme is employed to construct the stabilizing control laws for the nominal model. The stability of the overall vehicle dynamics at the saddle-node bifurcation is then guaranteed by applying Lyapunov stability criteria. Since the remaining term of the vehicle dynamics contains the steering control input, which might change system equilibrium except the designed one. Parametric analysis of system equilibrium for an example vehicle model is also obtained to classify the regime of control gains for potential behavior of vehicle’s dynamical behavior.     

Diversification and sophistication

In this report, progress and state-of-the-art of research on vehicle and machinery designs are described for vehicles such as boat tractors, wheel type vehicles, tracked vehicles and a new locomotion system. The development stages and aspects of off-road vehicles are different in countries/districts, showing many kinds of running devices. Reflecting a high-technology in some countries, the mechanism and the control system of off-road vehicles are becoming more and more sophisticated.     

Mechanism analysis and optimum control of negative airgap eccentricity effect for in-wheel switched reluctance motor driving system

In this paper, the generation mechanism of the negative airgap eccentricity effect for the in-wheel switched reluctance motor (SRM) driving system is analyzed. An independent current chopping control strategy is proposed to achieve optimum control between the response characteristic of the in-wheel motor driving system and the dynamic performance of electric vehicle (EV). Firstly, the electromagnetic characteristic of the studied SRM under airgap eccentricity is studied based on electromagnetic coupling model and circuit driving equation, and the radial electromagnetic force under different airgap eccentricity is verified by adopting the built experiment device. Then, combined with the excitation characteristics of the radial electromagnetic force, the negative dynamic effect of the in-wheel motor driving system is analyzed in the time–frequency domain. Finally, an independent current chopping control strategy for the in-wheel SRM driving system based on vehicle vibration feedback is proposed. The controller parameters including the turn-off angle and chopping current threshold are optimized by data interpolation. Results show that the proposed control strategy can achieve the optimum control between the response characteristics of the in-wheel motor driving system and the vehicle dynamic performance, especially to suppress the vehicle sprung mass acceleration and tire bounce while starting EV.

     

The Time-Scaled Trapezoidal Integration Rule for Discrete Fractional Order Controllers

In this paper, the time-scaled trapezoidal integration rule for discretizing fractional order controllers is discussed. This interesting proposal is used to interpret discrete fractional order control (FOC) systems as control with scaled sampling time. Based on this time-scaled version of trapezoidal integration rule, discrete FOC can be regarded as some kind of control strategy, in which strong control action is applied to the latest sampled inputs by using scaled sampling time. Namely, there are two time scalers for FOC systems: a normal time scale for ordinary feedback and a scaled one for fractional order controllers. A new realization method is also proposed for discrete fractional order controllers, which is based on the time-scaled trapezoidal integration rule. Finally, a one mass position 1/s^k control system, realized by the proposed method, is introduced to verify discrete FOC systems and their robustness against saturation non-linearity.     

The Time-Scaled Trapezoidal Integration Rule for Discrete Fractional Order Controllers

In this paper, the time-scaled trapezoidal integration rule for discretizing fractional order controllers is discussed. This interesting proposal is used to interpret discrete fractional order control (FOC) systems as control with scaled sampling time. Based on this time-scaled version of trapezoidal integration rule, discrete FOC can be regarded as some kind of control strategy, in which strong control action is applied to the latest sampled inputs by using scaled sampling time. Namely, there are two time scalers for FOC systems: a normal time scale for ordinary feedback and a scaled one for fractional order controllers. A new realization method is also proposed for discrete fractional order controllers, which is based on the time-scaled trapezoidal integration rule. Finally, a one mass position 1/s ^k control system, realized by the proposed method, is introduced to verify discrete FOC systems and their robustness against saturation non-linearity.     

A delay partitioning approach to output feedback control for uncertain discrete time-delay systems with actuator saturation

This paper is concerned with the problems of output feedback control for uncertain discrete time-delay systems with input saturation. The delay partitioning approach is proposed to obtain new stability criteria. The dynamic output feedback controller is designed based on a linear matrix inequality framework. A sufficient condition is developed, which guarantees the existence of dynamic output feedback controllers such that all trajectories of the closed-loop system starting from an admissible initial condition domain converge to a smaller ellipsoid. Simulation examples are provided to show the potential of the proposed techniques.     

具有采样反馈的力控制系统稳定性

基于计算机的数字采样控制对离散信号进行运算并向作动器提供控制输入,是当前的主流控制技术.数字采样控制系统是这样一类控制系统,其控制对象由微分方程(组)描述,而控制律由离散采样信号给出.以采样PD(proportional-derivative)反馈作用下的单自由度力控制系统为例,基于离散系统的稳定性分析方法,研究采样控制律对控制系统稳定性的影响.为了突出采样反馈的作用,将系统取为无刚度、无阻尼的最简单形式.不同于已有研究假设位移采样信号与速度采样信号相互同步,本文研究当位移采样信号与速度采样信号不同步时受控系统的稳定性,发现位移采样信号与速度采样信号的采样周期不同组合对受控系统在增益平面上的稳定性区域有重要影响.结果表明,对所关心的三种数字采样反馈控制律,当位移采样信号滞后于速度采样信号一个采样周期时,受控系统具有最大的稳定性区域且对相同的增益值可以有最好的稳定效果.论文对这种现象进行分析,给出了一种力学解释.     

Discrete adaptive fuzzy control for asymptotic tracking of robotic manipulators

This paper presents a novel discrete adaptive fuzzy controller for electrically driven robot manipulators. It addresses how to overcome the nonlinearity, uncertainties, discretizing error and approximation error of the fuzzy system for asymptotic tracking control of robotic manipulators. The proposed controller is model-free in the form of discrete Mamdani fuzzy controller. The parameters of fuzzy controller are adaptively tuned using an adaptive mechanism derived by stability analysis. A robust control term is used to compensate the approximation error of the fuzzy system for asymptotic tracking of a desired trajectory. The controller is robust against all uncertainties associated with the robot manipulator and actuators. It is easy to implement since it requires only the joint position feedback. Compared with fuzzy controllers which employ all states to guarantee stability, the proposed controller is very simpler. Stability analysis and simulation results show its efficiency in the tracking control.     

Control of a compound wheeled vehicle with two steering wheels

The problem of synthesis of a control system for a wheeled robotic vehicle consisting of two links (driving and driven) is analyzed. The robot is considered to be a controlled system of rigid bodies with nonholonomic constraints and to have two steerable wheels. Additionally, it is necessary to decide where the second steerable wheel is (on the driving or driven link). In this connection, two models of a compound wheeled robotic vehicle with two steerable wheels are considered. For these models, the problem of synthesis of feedback is solved. They are compared by modeling Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 44, No. 12, pp. 111–120, December 2008.     

The ExoMars rover locomotion subsystem

ExoMars is the European Space Agency (ESA) mission to Mars planned for launch in 2018, focusing on exobiology with the primary objective of searching for any traces of extant or extinct carbon-based micro-organisms. The on-surface mission is performed by a near-autonomous mobile robotic vehicle (also referred to as the rover) with a mission design life of 180 sols. The rover has a 6 × 6 × 6 with 6 wheel-walking drive configuration (all 6 wheels are driven, steered and have a ‘walking’ capability) and has flexible wheels providing enhanced traction compared to rigid wheels of the same diameter. The suspension is a passive ‘3-bogie’ system which offers the same 6 wheel contact on uneven ground and mobility performance as the NASA-JPL ‘rocker-bogie’ suspension used on previous Mars rovers, but permits elimination of the differential linkage present in that design. Mars presents several challenges to the rover locomotion subsystem with its rock-strewn surface, sand dunes, rocky outcrops, craters and slopes. The unknown nature of the terrain to be traversed imposes several constraints on the locomotion subsystem design that need to be evaluated and incorporated within the flight model for its successful operation on Mars. In addition, accommodation within the confines of the lander and successful egress from it over deflated airbags places stringent constraints on locomotion subsystem mass, stowage envelope, deployment and wheel design. This paper documents the evolution of the ExoMars rover vehicle locomotion configuration from an early design concept to the current mission baseline design. The discussion involves various tradeoffs supported by mechanical and terramechanical analyses, simulations and testing performed on full-scale locomotion breadboard models at single wheel level and system level.     

Kinematic analysis of a rolling tensegrity structure with spatially curved members

In this work, a tensegrity structure with spatially curved members is applied as rolling locomotion system. The actuation of the structure allows a variation of the originally cylindrical shape to a conical shape. Moreover, the structure is equipped with internal movable masses to control the position of the center of mass of the structure. To control the locomotion system a reliable actuation strategy is required. Therefore, the kinematics of the system considering the nonholonomic constraints are derived in this paper. Based on the resulting insight in the locomotion behavior a feasible actuation strategy is designed to control the trajectory of the system. To verify this approach kinematic analyses are evaluated numerically. The simulation data confirm the path following due to an appropriate shape change of the tensegrity structure. Thus, this system enables a two-dimensional rolling locomotion.

     

Control of a Hyperchaotic Discrete System

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