Omni-directional robot and adaptive control method for off-road running

Abstract

This paper presents an off-road omni-directional mobile robot (OOMR) which can run on an uneven road and obstacles. The robot is constructed with four crawler-roller-motor units and can also be called a "roller-crawler type of omni-directional mobile robot." Each crawler-roller-motor unit can be driven independently and the motion of the robot can be controlled by the speed of each motor. We also designed a position and velocity control system for the robot. The robot can be automatically controlled to run in an optional direction and to track an orbit. We also show the adaptive control method for the OOMR. The efficiency of the mechanism and the control method has been verified by many practical running tests and computer simulations.