Estimation of mobile robot’s center of gravity for rollover detection

Abstract

Mobile robots are becoming popular for transportation of packages but are prone to rollover in off-road terrain. The location of the center of gravity is required for the rollover detection of mobile robots. However, the location of the center of gravity is usually unknown because of uncertain load distribution. In this paper, a nonlinear five degrees of freedom model of a mobile robot is used to estimate the location of its center of gravity. The unknown parameters appear nonlinearly in the system model and a nonlinear least-squares estimation technique is evaluated to estimate the center of gravity of the mobile robot. An algorithm is then provided which uses this estimated location to indicate when the mobile robot is in danger of rolling over.