Pitching motion control of a wheeled mobile robot with variable pitch blades

Abstract

This paper presents a control strategy for a wheeled mobile robot with variable pitch blades which make it highly mobile over irregular terrain. In our previous work, a mathematical model with respect to pitching motion of the robot necessary to climb a stair was developed, and a nonlinear controller for the pitching motion was proposed under the assumption that the voltage to a motor for driving wheels was constant. In this paper, to improve the control performance, another controller to generate large traction acting on the wheels is proposed employing input-output linearization technique together with integral sliding mode control to provide robust performance against model uncertainties such as ground adhesion properties.