Chapter 4

Mobile Robot
Vehicles
Content
• Mobility
• Car-like Mobile Robots
• Flying Robots
• This chapter discusses how a robot platform moves, that is, how its
pose changes with time as a function of its control inputs. There are
many different types of robot platform but in this chapter we will
consider only two which are important exemplars.
• The first is a wheeled vehicle like a car which operates in a 2-
dimensional world.
• The second platform is a quadcopter, a flying vehicle, which is an
example of a robot that moves in 3-dimensional space.
• However before we start to discuss these two robot platforms it will
be helpful to consider some general, but important, concepts
regarding mobility.
4.1. Mobility
• We first consider the simple example of a train. The train moves along
rails and its position is described by its distance along the rail from
some datum. The configuration of the train can be completely
described by a scalar parameter q which is called its generalized
coordinate.
• The set of all possible configurations is the configuration space, or 𝒞-
space, denoted by 𝒞 and 𝑞 ∈ 𝒞.
• In this case 𝒞 ⊂ ℝ. We also say that the train has one degree of
freedom since 𝑞 is a scalar.
• The train also has one actuator (motor) that propels it forwards or
backwards along the rail. With one motor and one degree of freedom
the train is fully actuated and can achieve any desired configuration,
that is, any position along the rail.
• Another important concept is task space which is the set of all
possible poses 𝜉 of the vehicle and 𝜉 ∈ 𝒯.
• The task space depends on the application or task. If our task
was motion along the rail then 𝒯 ⊂ ℝ. If we cared only about the
position of the train in a plane then 𝒯 ⊂ ℝ2 . If we considered a 3-
dimensional world then 𝒯 ⊂ 𝑆𝐸(3), and its height changes as it
moves up and down hills and its orientation changes as it moves
around curves.
• Interestingly many vehicles share certain characteristics with trains –
they are good at moving forward but not so good at moving sideways.
Cars, hovercrafts, ships and aircraft all exhibit this characteristic and
require complex manoeuvring in order to move sideways.
• The hovercraft has only two actuators, one fewer than it has degrees
of freedom, and it is therefore an under-actuated system. This
imposes limitations on the way in which it can move. At any point in
time we can control the forward (parallel to the thrust vectors)
acceleration and the rotational acceleration of the the hovercraft but
there is zero sideways (or lateral) acceleration since it does not
generate any lateral thrust.
• The advantage of under-actuation is the reduced number of
actuators, in this case two instead of three. The penalty is that the
vehicle cannot move directly to an any point in its configuration
space, it must follow some path.
• The helicopter is under-actuated and it has no means to rotationally
accelerate in the pitch and roll directions but cleverly these
unactuated degrees of freedom are not required for helicopter
operation – the helicopter naturally maintains stable equilibrium
values for roll and pitch angle.
• Gravity acts like an additional actuator and provides a constant
downward force. This allows the helicopter to accelerate sideways
using the horizontal component of its thrust vector, while the vertical
component of thrust is counteracted by gravity – without gravity a
helicopter could not fly sideways.
• The task space of the helicopter is 𝒯 ⊂ 𝑆𝐸(3).
• An omni-directional wheel or Swedish wheel is shown in Fig. 4.1. It is
similar to a normal wheel but has a number of passive rollers around
its circumference and their rotational axes lie in the plane of the
wheel. It is driven like an ordinary wheel but has very low friction in
the lateral direction.
• In robotics a car is often described as a non-holonomic vehicle. The
term nonholonomic comes from mathematics and means that the
motion of the car is subject to one or more non-holonomic
constraints.
• A holonomic constraint is an equation that can be written in terms of
the configuration variables 𝑥, 𝑦 and 𝜃.
• A non-holonomic constraint can only be written in terms of the
derivatives of the configuration variables and cannot be integrated to
a constraint in terms of configuration variables.
• Such systems are therefore also known as non-integrable systems.
• A key characteristic of these systems, as we have already discussed, is
that they cannot move directly from one configuration to another –
they must perform a manoeuvre or sequence of motions
4.2. Car-like Mobile Robots
• In this section we will create a model for a carlike vehicle and develop
controllers that can drive the car to a point, along a line, follow
an arbitrary path, and finally, drive to a specific pose.
• A commonly used model for a four-wheeled car-like vehicle is the
bicycle model shown in Fig. 4.2. The bicycle has a rear wheel fixed to
the body and the plane of the front wheel rotates about the vertical
axis to steer the vehicle.
• The pose of the vehicle is represented by the coordinate frame {V}
shown in Fig. 4.2, with its x-axis in the vehicle’s forward direction and
its origin at the centre of the rear axle.
Vehicle coordinate system. The
coordinate system that we will use,
and a common one for vehicles of all
sorts is that the x-axis is forward
(longitudinal motion), the y-axis is to
the left side (lateral motion) which
implies that the z-axis is upward. For
aerospace and underwater
applications the z-axis is often
downward and the x-axis is forward.
• The configuration of the vehicle is represented by the generalized
coordinates 𝑞 = (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝜃) ∈ 𝒞 where 𝒞 ⊂ 𝑆𝐸(2).
• The vehicle’s velocityis by definition v in the vehicle’s
x-direction, and zero in the y-direction since the wheels cannot slip
sideways. In the vehicle frame {V} this is

• The dashed lines show the direction along which the wheels cannot
move, the lines of no motion, and these intersect at a point known as
the Instantaneous Centre of Rotation (ICR).
• The reference point of the vehicle thus follows a circular path and its
angular velocity is
• And by simple geometry the turning radius is 𝑅1 = 𝐿/𝑡𝑎𝑛𝛾 where 𝐿 is
the length of the vehicle or wheel base.
• The steering angle 𝛾 is limited mechanically and its maximum value
dictates the minimum value of 𝑅1 .
• For a fixed steering wheel angle the car moves along a circular arc.
Note that 𝑅2 > 𝑅1 which means the front wheel must follow a longer
path and therefore rotate more quickly than the back wheel.
• When a four-wheeled vehicle goes around a corner the two steered
wheels follow circular paths of different radius and therefore the
angles of the steered wheels 𝛾𝐿 and 𝛾𝑅 should be very slightly
different. The driven wheels must rotate at different speeds on
corners which is why a differential gearbox is required between the
motor and the driven wheels.
• The velocity of the robot in the world frame is

• This model is referred to as a kinematic model since it describes the

velocities of the vehicle but not the forces or torques that cause the
velocity.
• The rate of change of heading 𝜃ሶ is referred to as turn rate, heading
rate or yaw rate and can be measured by a gyroscope. It can also be
deduced from the angular velocity of the wheels on the left- and
right-hand sides of the vehicle which follow arcs of different radius
and therefore rotate at different speeds.
• Numerical examples: page 70.
• Simulink:
- Matlab > Simulink > Simulink Onramp
- Matlab’s Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL484BA2AD3AE4C2D0
4.2.1. Moving to a Point
4.2.2. Following a Line
4.2.3. Following a Path
• Instead of a straight line we might wish to follow a path that is
defined more generally as some locus on the xy-plane. The path
might come from a sequence of coordinates generated by a motion
planner or in real-time based on the robot’s sensors.
• A simple and effective algorithm for path following is pure pursuit in
which the goal 𝑥 ∗ 𝑡 , 𝑦 ∗ 𝑡 moves along the path, in its simplest
form at constant speed, and the vehicle always heads toward the
goal.
4.2.4. Moving to a Pose
4.3. Flying Robots
• Numerical examples: pages 82, 83.