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An Approximated, Control Affine Model for a Strawberry Field Scouting Robot Considering Wheel–Terrain Interaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2019

Pablo Menendez-Aponte ,
Xiangling Kong  and
Yunjun Xu
Pablo Menendez-Aponte
Affiliation:
Graduate Research Assistant, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA. E-mail: olbap323@gmail.com
Xiangling Kong*
Affiliation:
Graduate Research Assistant, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA. E-mail: olbap323@gmail.com
Yunjun Xu
Affiliation:
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA. E-mail: yunjun.xu@ucf.edu
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: xl.kong@knights.ucf.edu
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Summary

Recently, autonomous field robots have been investigated as a labor-reducing means to scout through commercial strawberry fields for disease detection or fruit harvesting. To achieve accurate over-bed and cross-bed motions, it is preferred to design the motion controller based on a precise dynamic model. Here, a dynamic model is developed for a custom-designed strawberry field robot considering terramechanic wheel–terrain interaction. Different from existing models, a torus geometry is considered for the wheels. In order to obtain a control affine model, the longitudinal force is curve-fitted using a polynomial function of the slip/skid ratio, while the lateral force is curve-fitted using an exponential function of both the slip/skid ratio and slip angle. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is then developed to estimate the unknown parameters in the approximated model such that the state variables propagated by such a model can match experimental data. The approximated model and the EKF-based parameter estimation method are then validated in a commercial strawberry farm.

Keywords

Wheel–terrain interaction model (WTIM)Wheeled mobile robot (WMR)Field robot; Extended Kalman filter (EKF)
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 37 , Issue 9 , September 2019 , pp. 1545 - 1561
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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