Robust control of a redundant wheeled drive system for energy saving and fail safe motion

Abstract

This article presents sliding mode-based robust tracking control for a redundant wheeled drive system, which is designed for energy saving and fail safe motion. Wheeled mobile robots are widely used in different applications such as a wheelchair and an automated guided vehicle because of their loading capability, low mechanical complexity, and simple engineering design. In addition, using wheeled mobile robots is an effective way to enhance the quality of life for elderly and disabled people to promote their independence and to extend their activities. Wheeled mobile robots are generally operated using embedded batteries, which determine the operating time. Therefore, saving energy motion is a significant requirement to extend the operation time. The dynamics of a redundant wheeled drive system is described. Distribution control and sliding mode control for wheeled mobile robots are proposed, and its stability is guaranteed based on the Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method are demonstrated experimentally, providing superior results to conventional state feedback control and robust tracking in the real environment with less energy.