TRACKING OF REFERENCE TRAJECTORY FOR

WHEELED MOBILE ROBOT

Dmitry U. Panlov, Sergey B. Tkachev
Bauman Moscow State Technical University,
ul. 2-aja Baumanskaja, 5, 107005, Russia, Moscow,
fax: (095)2639893, e-mail: mathmod@bmstu.ru
Abstract: A nonlinear dynamical model with the sideslip eect for the four-wheeled
car-like mobile robot is designed. A nonlinear control algorithm which solves the refer-
ence trajectory tracking problem is proposed. The algorithm is based on dierential-
geometric tools. Using numerical simulation it is shown that designed algorithm is
robust under main parameters of the wheeled robot model.
Keywords: Nonlinear Control, Ane System, Mobile Robot, Trajectory Tracking
1. INTRODUCTION
The problem under consideration is tracking of
a reference trajectory for a four-wheeled car-like
mobile robot. It is well known that for high enough
velocities one should use dynamical models to de-
sign good trajectory tracing controls. One can nd
dierent approaches in (Burdakov et al. 2001).
We work with a dynamical model of four-wheeled
car-like robot which includes a sideslip eect. This
model is a generalization of the so called single-
track dynamical model (Ackermann 1993). It is
more realistic for a four-wheeled car. We use two
controls in our model. The rst control is the
steering angle of front wheels and the second
control is the absolute value of acceleration of the
mass centre.
We use dierential-geometric tools (Krishchenko
1985), (Krishchenko 1991), (Isidori 1995) for solv-
ing a tracking problem. The nonlinear stabiliza-
tion algorithm for the reference trajectory is also
proposed. It is based on ideas of feedback lin-
earization.
Industrial robot applications require robust tra-
jectory tracking. Using numerical simulation we
show that the designed control algorithm is robust
under main parameters of the model.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2
the dynamical model of the mobile robot is de-
veloped. In Section 3 the transformation to the
quasicanonical form is considered. Sections 4 and
5 contain the description of the control algorithm.
Numerical simulation results with known parame-
ters are presented in Section 6. Robustness of the
designed algorithm is discussed in Section 7.
2. MODEL OF FOUR-WHEELED ROBOT
We consider the four-wheeled car-like mobile
robot under the following assumptions.
1) The mobile robot moves on the horizontal
plane.
2) The body of the robot is rigid.
3) Sideslip angles of front wheels are equal and
sideslip angles of rear wheels are equal too.
The scheme of the mobile robot and acting forces
one can nd on g. 1.
Lets use the following notation:
m the mass of the mobile robot, [kg];
J the inertia momentum, [kg m
2
];
v the linear velocity of the robot mass centre,
[m/s];
the angular velocity around the mass centre,
[rad/s];
14th Int. Conference Process Control 2003,
June 811, 2003,

Strbsk e Pleso, Slovakia T-Mo-A1, pc095.pdf
0951
Fig. 1. The model of the four-wheeled mobile
robot
the steering angle of front wheels, [rad];

f
the sideslip angle of front wheels, [rad];

r
the sideslip angle of rear wheels, [rad];
the sideslip angle of the mobile robot, [rad];
the yaw angle of the robot, [rad];
l
f
the distance between the mass centre and
the front axis, [m];
l
r
the distance between the mass centre and
the rear axis, [m];
a the distance between the longitudinal axis
and wheels, [m];
f
f
the front side force, [N];
f
r
the rear side force, [N];
F the rear control force, [N].
Consider equations of motion for the wheeled
robot. We result on the OX axis
m v
x
mv
y
= f
x
, (1)
on the OY axis
m v
y
+ mv
x
= f
y
. (2)
The yaw motion around the mass centre is de-
scribed by
J = M
z
. (3)
Here v
x
= v cos and v
y
= v sin are projections
of the velocity of the mass centre on according
coordinate axes, f
x
and f
y
are projections of
acting forces.
One can calculate derivatives of the velocity pro-
jections with respect to time
v
x
= v cos v

sin , (4)
v
y
= v sin + v

cos . (5)
Using (4), (5), (1) and (2) one can obtain
mv(

+ ) = f
x
sin + f
y
cos , (6)
m v = f
x
cos + f
y
sin . (7)
Projections of acting forces are
f
x
= 2f
f
sin + F, (8)
f
y
= 2f
f
cos + 2f
r
. (9)
The total torque momentum is
M
z
= 2f
f
l
f
cos 2f
r
l
r
+ 2f
f
a sin . (10)
The sideslip angles of front and rear wheels
f
,
r
can be expressed as
tan
f
=
v
flat
v
flong
,
tan
r
=
v
rlat
v
rlong
,
where v
flat
, v
rlat
are wheel-dependent lateral pro-
jections, v
flong
, v
rlong
are wheel-dependent longi-
tudinal projections of the velocity of front and rear
wheels.
The tire model can be written as follows
f
f
= c
f

f
,
f
r
= c
r

r
.
(11)
Here c
f
and c
r
coecients of the cornering
stiness. Their typical values are 100000200000
N/rad.
Instead of two sideslip angles of front and rear
wheels it is better to use the sideslip angle of the
mass centre. One can see that

f
= arctan
_
v sin + R
f
cos
f
v cos R
f
sin
f
_
,(12)

r
= arctan
_
v sin R
r
cos
r
v cos + R
r
sin
r
_
, (13)
where
R
r
=
_
l
2
r
+ a
2
, R
f
=
_
l
2
f
+ a
2
,

r
= 0.5 arctan
_
l
r
a
_
,

f
= 0.5 arctan
_
l
f
a
_
.
Using notation v
x
= x

, v
y
= y

and substituting
(8), (9) in (6), (7) and (10), one can get

=
2(f
r
+ f
f
cos )
mv cos

tan
v
v,
J = 2l
f
f
f
cos 2l
r
f
r
,

= ,
x = v cos( + ),
y = v sin( + ).
(14)
0952
Note that this system is correct only if the linear
velocity of the mass centre is greater then 0. For
numerical simulation we use atan2(a, b) with two
inputs instead arctan(
a
b
) in order to permit b = 0.
Let the steering angle of front wheels () and the
absolute acceleration ( v) to be controls in (14).
The control force produced by rear wheels can be
expressed as follows:
F = 2f
f
sin +
m v sin (2f
f
cos + 2f
r
)
cos
.
(15)
Denote controls (, v) as (u
1
, u
2
).
Substituting (11), (12), (13) in (14) we result
x = v cos( + ),

=
2c
f
u
1
cos u
1
mv cos

2c
r
mv cos

arctan
_
v sin R
r
cos
r
v cos + R
r
sin
r
_

2c
f
cos u
1
mv cos

arctan
_
v sin + R
f
cos
f
v cos R
f
sin
f
_

tan
v
u
2
,
v = u
2
,
y = v sin( + ),
=
2c
f
l
f
J
_
u
1

arctan
_
v sin + R
f
cos
f
v cos R
f
sin
f
__

cos u
1
+
+
2c
r
l
r
J
arctan
_
v sin R
r
cos
r
v cos + R
r
sin
r
_
,

= ,
(16)
F = mu
2
+
2c
r
arctan
_
v sin R
r
cos
r
v cos + R
r
sin
r
_
tan+
+2c
f
_
u
1
arctan
_
v sin + R
f
cos
f
v cos R
f
sin
f
__

(sin u
1
tan cos u
1
).
This system is not an ane one. Lets simplify
it in order to get an ane system. Assume that
the control angle and the sideslip angle are
suciently small and sin() , cos() 1,
sin() , cos() 1.
For convenience we denote
(x, , v, y, , ) = (x
1
, x
2
, x
3
, x
4
, x
5
, x
6
).
Now we get
x
1
= x
3
cos(x
2
+ x
6
),
x
2
=

2c
r
mx
3
arctan
_
x
2
x
3
R
r
x
5
cos
r
x
3
+ R
r
x
5
sin
r
_

2c
f
mx
3
arctan
_
x
2
x
3
+ R
f
x
5
cos
f
x
3
R
f
x
5
sin
f
_

x
5
+
2c
f
mx
3
u
1

x
2
x
3
u
2
,
x
3
= u
2
,
x
4
= x
3
sin(x
2
+ x
6
),
x
5
=
2c
r
l
r
J
arctan
_
x
2
x
3
R
r
x
5
cos
r
x
3
+ R
r
x
5
sin
r
_

2c
f
l
f
J
arctan
_
x
2
x
3
+ R
f
x
5
cos
f
x
3
R
f
x
5
sin
f
_
+
+
2l
f
c
f
J
u
1
,
x
6
= x
5
,
(17)
The dynamical system (17) is ane. Lets trans-
form this system into the canonical or quasicanon-
ical form (Krishchenko 1991).
3. TRANSFORMATION TO CANONICAL
FORM
Ane system (17) can be represented with drift
vector eld A and vector elds
B
1
=
2c
f
mx
3

x
2
+
2l
f
c
f
J

x
5
,
B
2
=
x
2
x
3

x
2
+

x
3
.
One can calculate that [B
1
, B
2
] = 0, where
ad
X
Y = [X, Y ] commutator (Lie bracket) of
vector elds X and Y , and ad
i+1
X
Y = [X, ad
i
X
Y ].
The distribution span{B
1
, B
2
} is involutive and
has rank 2 if x
3
= 0.
One can see that it is the biggest involutive
distribution. So system (17) can be transformed
only into quasicanonical form with the multiindex
(2, 2).
Now we need to nd
i
(x), i = 1, 2, from the
system of PDE equations
B
1
= 0, B
2
= 0.
We have
_

_
2c
f
mx
3

x
2
+
2c
f
l
f
J

x
5
= 0,

x
2
x
3

x
2
+

x
3
= 0.
(18)
0953
This system is solvable and there exist four inde-
pendent rst integrals. One can choose
1
= x
1
,

2
= x
4
,
3
= x
6
.
Solving the system one can get

4
= x
2
x
3

J
ml
f
x
5
.
The quasicanonical form for system (17) with two
controls is
z
1
= z
2
,
z
2
= f
1
(z) + g
11
(z)u
1
+ g
12
(z)u
2
,
z
3
= z
4
,
z
4
= f
2
(z) + g
21
(z)u
1
+ g
22
(z)u
2
,
z
5
= f
3
(z, u),
z
6
= f
4
(z, u).
(19)
Using (19) under some additional conditions one
can nd controls which realize a reference trajec-
tory.
The rst condition is that the matrix
G(z) =
_
g
11
(z) g
12
(z)
g
21
(z) g
22
(z)
_
,
is nonsingular.
The second condition is that we can design the
special change of variables. Lets choose
1
= x
1
,

2
= x
4
then the desired change of variables has
the form
z
1
=
1
, z
2
= A
1
,
z
3
=
2
, z
4
= A
2
,
z
5
=
1
, z
6
=
2
,
where
1
,
2
are some functions.
Let
1
= x
5
,
2
= x
6
then
z
1
= x
1
,
z
2
= x
3
cos(x
2
+ x
6
),
z
3
= x
4
,
z
4
= x
3
sin(x
2
+ x
6
),
z
5
= x
5
,
z
6
= x
6
,
(20)
and this change of variables is nonsingular if
x
3
= 0.
In the domain x
3
> 0 the inverse change is
x
1
= z
1
,
x
2
= arctan
_
z
4
z
2
_
z
6
,
x
3
=
_
z
2
2
+ z
2
4
,
x
4
= z
3
,
x
5
= z
5
,
x
6
= z
6
.
(21)
Note that we dont need to rewrite system (17) in
new variables so we write it in the so named blank
form.
z
1
= z
2
,
z
2
= (x
3
(x) sin(x
2
+ x
6
)
2c
f
m
sin(x
2
+ x
6
)u
1
+
(cos(x
2
+ x
6
)+
+x
2
sin(x
2
+ x
6
))u
2
)|
(21)
,
z
3
= z
4
,
z
4
= (x
3
(x) cos(x
2
+ x
6
)+
2c
f
m
cos(x
2
+ x
6
)u
1
+
(sin(x
2
+ x
6
)
x
2
cos(x
2
+ x
6
))u
2
)|
(21)
,
z
5
= (
2c
f
l
f
J
u
1

2c
f
l
f
(x
2
x
3
+ R
f
cos
f
x
5
)
J(x
3
R
f
sin
f
x
5
)
+
l
r
c
r
(x
2
x
3
R
r
cos
r
x
5
)
J(x
3
+ R
r
sin
r
x
5
)
)|
(21)
,
z
6
= x
5
,
(22)
where
(x) =
2c
f
mx
3
arctan
_
x
2
x
3
+ R
f
cos
f
x
5
x
3
r
f
sin
f
x
5
_

2c
r
mx
3
arctan
_
x
2
x
3
x
5
R
r
cos
r
x
3
+ R
r
sin
r
x
5
_
.
The matrix G(x) is is nonsingular with detG(x) =

2c
f
m
. Now we can design reference controls.
4. REFERENCE CONTROL DESIGN
The typical problem for the wheeled mobile robot
is tracking of reference trajectory on the horizon-
tal plane. This reference trajectory for system (17)
is the trajectory on the part of variables.
Note that using (20) one dont need to transform
the reference trajectory x
r
(t), y
r
(t) into variables
z.
Using reference trajectory
z
r
1
(t) = x
r
(t),
z
r
3
(t) = y
r
(t),
z
r
2
(t) = z
r
1
(t),
z
r
4
(t) = z
r
3
(t),
z
r
2
(t) = z
r
1
(t),
z
r
4
(t) = z
r
3
(t),
one can obtain reference controls
_
u
r
1
(t, x
5
, x
6
)
u
r
2
(t, x
5
, x
6
)
_
= G
1

_
f
1
(z
r
1
, z
r
2
, z
r
3
, z
r
4
, x
5
, x
6
)
f
2
(z
r
1
, z
r
2
, z
r
3
, z
r
4
, x
5
, x
6
)
_
+
_
z
r
2
z
r
4
__
.
(23)
0954
Controls obtained depends not only on t but on
x
5
, x
6
. To solve this problem lets us substitute
reference controls and reference trajectories to last
two equations. We result
x
5
= f
3
(t, x
5
, x
6
),
x
6
= f
4
(t, x
5
, x
6
),
x
5
(0) = x
0
5
, x
6
(0) = x
0
6
.
(24)
Now one can get x
5
(t), x
6
(t). If this solutions are
bounded then using (23) one can nd reference
controls u
r
1
(t), u
r
2
(t) as functions of time.
Let q
x
(), q
y
() be a parametric spline and ref-
erence points (x
i
, y
i
), i = 0, . . . , n lie on it. Then
reference trajectory has the form x(t) = q
x
(t),
y(t) = q
y
(t), where is some positive coecient.
5. NONLINEAR STABILIZATION OF
REFERENCE TRAJECTORY
Let u
1
and u
2
be additional controls which
stabilize the reference trajectory,
u
1
= u
r
1
(t, z
5
, z
6
) + u
1
,
u
2
= u
r
2
(t, z
5
, z
6
) + u
2
.
Denote trajectory errors as z
i
, i = 1, . . . , 4. Lets
consider rst four equations of system (22). We
result
z
1
= z
2
,
z
2
=

f
1
(t, z, z
5
, z
6
)+
g
11
(t, z, z
5
, z
6
)u
1
+
g
12
(t, z, z
5
, z
6
)u
2
,
z
3
= z
4
,
z
4
=

f
2
(t, z, z
5
, z
6
)+
g
21
(t, z, z
5
, z
6
)u
1
+
g
22
(t, z, z
5
, z
6
)u
2
.
(25)
where

f
1
(z, t) = f
1
(z) f
1
(t, z
5
, z
6
)+
u
r
1
(t)(g
11
(z) g
11
(t, z
5
, z
6
))+
+u
r
2
(t)(g
12
(z) g
12
(t, z
5
, z
6
)),

f
2
(z, t) = f
2
(z) f
2
(t, z
5
, z
6
)+
u
r
1
(t)(g
21
(z) g
21
(t, z
5
, z
6
))+
+u
r
2
(t)(g
22
(z) g
22
(t, z
5
, z
6
)).
As

f(t, 0, z
5
, z
6
) = 0, detG(t, 0, z
5
, z
6
) = 0, the
stabilization problem for reference trajectory is
equivalent to the stabilization problem of the
equilibrium point z
i
= 0, i = 1, . . . , 4 on the
part of variables for system (25).
Let
_
u
1
(z, t)
u
2
(z, t)
_
= G
1
_

_

f
1
(z, t)

f
2
(z, t)
_

_
k
11
z
1
+ k
12
z
2
+ k
13
z
3
+ k
14
z
4
k
21
z
1
+ k
22
z
2
+ k
23
z
3
+ k
24
z
4
__
,
then in the matrix form

z + Kz = 0, (26)
where
K =
_
_
_
_
0 1 0 0
k
11
k
12
k
13
k
14
0 0 0 1
k
21
k
22
k
23
k
24
_
_
_
_
. (27)
One can choose the matrix K in order to make
zero solution of system (26) asymptotically stable.
Using (20) one can get stabilizing controls in
variables x.
Note that we need to be sure that x
5
(t) and x
6
(t)
converges to zero (Isidori 1995) or are bounded.
Here x
6
is the orientation angle of the mobile
robot and it is a cyclic one. Variable x
5
is yaw
rate and we cant prove that it is bounded. But we
use these variables only as arguments of (inverse)
trigonometric functions. So it is the case when we
can omit unboundedness of these variables.
6. NUMERICAL SIMULATION WITH EXACT
MODEL
For numerical simulation we use saturated con-
trols
satu
i
=
_
_
_
u
0
i
, u
i
> u
0
i
,
u
i
, u
i0
u
i
u
0
i
,
u
i0
, u < u
i0
,
i = 1, 2,
where u
i0
, u
0
i
minimum and maximum values
of controls.
Simulation results are presented on g. 2 8.
Parameters of the model are m = 500 kg, J =
1000 kg m
2
, c
r
= c
f
= 150000 N/rad, l
r
= 1 m,
l
f
= 0.7 m, a = 0.8 m;
the matrix K consists of k
11
= 35, k
12
= 13,
k
13
= 0, k
14
= 0, k
21
= 0, k
22
= 0, k
23
= 35,
k
24
= 13;
eigen values of the matrix K are
1
= 3.8,

2
= 9.2,
3
= 3.8,
4
= 9.2;
the initial position is x
0
1
= x
1d
, x
0
2
= 0, x
0
3
= 1,
x
0
4
= x
4d
, x
0
5
= 1, x
0
6
= 0.
u
10
= 0.2, u
0
1
= 0.2 rad, and u
20
= 2 m/s
2
,
u
0
2
= 2 m/s
2
.
7. NUMERICAL SIMULATION WITH
PARAMETER UNCERTAINTY
Using numerical simulation we show that the de-
signed control algorithm can stabilized the refer-
ence trajectory if some parameters are unknown
and their estimations have errors about 40 per-
cents. In other words the algorithm is robust to
values c
r
, c
f
, m, J.
Results of numerical simulation are presented on
g. 9 12
0955
Fig. 2. The reference trajectory and the real
trajectory
Fig. 3. Errors
Fig. 4. Control u
1
Fig. 5. Control u
2
Fig. 6. Control force
Fig. 7. Orientation angle
Fig. 8. Yaw rate
Real parameters of the robot model are m = 500
kg, J = 1000 kg m
2
, c
r
= c
f
= 150000N/rad,
l
r
= 0.8, l
f
= 1 m, a = 0.8 m;
Parametrs of the robot for the control algorithm
are m = 300 kg, J = 650 kgm
2
, c
r
= c
f
= 100000
N/rad, l
r
= 0.8, l
f
= 1 m, a = 0.8 m;
Matrix K consists of k
11
= 35, k
12
= 13, k
13
= 0,
k
14
= 0, k
21
= 0, k
22
= 0, k
23
= 35, k
24
= 13;
eigen-values of matrix K are
1
= 3.8,
2
=
9.2,
3
= 3.8,
4
= 9.2;
The initial position is x
0
1
= x
1d
, x
0
2
= 0, x
0
3
= 1,
x
0
4
= x
4d
, x
0
5
= 1, x
0
6
= 0.
0956
Fig. 9. The reference trajectory and the real
trajectory
Fig. 10. Errors
Fig. 11. Control u
1
Fig. 12. Control u
2
Fig. 13. Control force
8. CONCLUSIONS
The nonlinear model of four-wheeled mobile robot
is designed. This model includes the sideslip eect.
Reference tracing problem is solved for this model
using dierential-geometric tools.
It is shown that the designed control algorithm is
robust under uncertainties of main parameters.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The work has been supported under the grant of
RFBR 02-01-00704 and the project 2.41 Design
of intelligent control systems of the RAS program
Mathematical modelling of intelligent control
systems of nonlinear dynamical systems.
9. REFERENCES
Burdakov, S. F., I. V. Miroshnik, R. Ie. Stelmakov
(2001). Systems of motion control of wheeled
robots. Nauka. Saint-Petersburg. in Russian
Ackerman, J. (1993). Robust control. Springer-
Verlag. London.
Stotsky, A., X. Hu, M. Egerstedt (1999). Sliding
mode control of a car like mobile robot using
single track dynamic model.Proc. 14
th
Tri-
ennial World Congress, IFAC, Beijing, 1999.
Paper No.B-1d-04-3, CD-ROM.
Krishchenko, A.P. Stabilisation of programmed
motions of nonlinear systems. Izvestia AN
SSSR. Texnicheskaia kibernetika N 6, 103
112.
Krishchenko, A.P. Transformations of multivari-
able ane nonlinear dynamical systems with
control. In: Control of Nonlinear Systems:
Collection of papers. VNII sistemnix issle-
dovanii. Moscow. (in Russian)
Isidori, A. (1995) Nonlinear control systems. 3-rd
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0957