Velocity and orientation control of an anti-tilting mobile robot moving on an inclined plane

Abstract

We introduce a novel control scheme for an anti-tilting mobile robot moving on an inclined plane. The robot pertains to the family of mobile wheeled pendulums. The challenge faced here consists in designing a controller for the robot orientation and its forward velocity, while, concurrently, stabilizing the unstable zero-dynamics, due to the undamped oscillation of the central body. An internal feedback control structure is proposed, composed of two imbricated loops, and based on an intrinsic dynamical property of the system, that would be referred to as the natural behavior of the system. Simulations of the controlled motion, using MATLAB/Simulink, are provided