CONTROL ALGORITHMS FOR KINEMATICALLY REDUNDANT 3-WHEELED MOBILE ROBOTS
In this paper, control algorithms for kinematically redundant 3-wheeled mobile robots are proposed. One of popular mobile robots in this type is the poly-articulated expandable 3-wheeled planetary rover "Tri-Star3", which was developed by Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. Because each wheel of the robot has one kinematic redundancy, the robot is able to make diverse configurations. However, this robot cannot fully utilize the kinematic redundancy because it employs only three actuators and there are some singularities inside the workspace. Thus, it uses discrete control algorithms to control its motion. To enhance the motion capability, a modified wheel mechanism, which has no singularity and is able to utilize the redundancy, is proposed. The performance of this device is compared to that of Tri-Star3.
This work was partially supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation(KOSEF) grant funded by the Korea government(MEST) (No. 2010-0000247), financially supported by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy(MKE) and Korea Institute for Advancement in Technology (KIAT) through the Workforce Development Program in Strategic Technology, and the outcome of a Manpower Development Program for Energy & Resources supported by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy (MKE).
