Dynamics and Control of a Planar Multibody Mobile Robot for Confined Environment Inspection Lounis Douadi Davide Spinello∗ School of Electrical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science University of Ottawa University of Ottawa Email:
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[email protected] Wail Gueaieb School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of Ottawa Email:
[email protected] ABSTRACT In this paper, we study the dynamics of an articulated planar mobile robot for confined environment exploration. The mobile vehicle is composed of n identical modules hitched together with passive revolute joints. Each module has the structure of a four-bar parallel mechanism on a mobile platform. The dynamic model is derived using Lagrange formulation. Computer simulations illustrate the model by addressing a path following problem inside a pipe. The dynamic model presented in this paper is the basis for the design of motion control algorithms that encode energy optimization and sensor performance maximization. 1 Introduction and Related Literature This work is part of a project aimed at the development of a three-dimensional autonomous articu- lated mobile robot for the exploration and nondestructive testing in confined environments that can be hazardous or not accessible to humans. One application targeted by this system is natural gas pipelines inspection. Articulated mobile robots made their appearance in the framework of service robotics [1]. Snake-like mobile robots are often chosen for the class of applications we are interested in because of their great agility and high redundancy, which enable them to operate in environments that might be too challenging for a conventional wheeled robot.