Summary
Robustness is pivot for robots operating in all-terrain environments. This demand comes mainly due to the highly heterogeneous and unstructured nature of the terrain. Two particular topics are sensitive to this problem: locomotion control and wheel odometry. A behaviour-based approach is proposed for the locomotion control system, whereas a heuristic exploiting the kinematic and dynamical constraints of the robot is used to enhance wheel odometry accuracy. Experimental results on the Ares robot, which is a \(1.5\,\mbox{m}^2\) vehicle with four independently steered wheels, show the ability of the proposed methods to cope with all-terrain environments. In addition, the modules for localisation, mapping, and obstacle avoidance are also addressed in order to provide a global perspective over the Ares robot’s control system.
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Santana, P., Cândido, C., Santos, P., Almeida, L., Correia, L., Barata, J. (2008). The Ares Robot: Case Study of an Affordable Service Robot. In: Bruyninckx, H., Přeučil, L., Kulich, M. (eds) European Robotics Symposium 2008. Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, vol 44. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78317-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-78317-6_4
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