Path following control for tracked vehicles based on slip-compensating odometry

Tracked vehicles have the advantage of stable locomotion on uneven terrain, and, as a result, such mechanisms are used for locomotion on outdoor robots, including those used for search and rescue. However, such mechanisms always slip when a tracked vehicle follows a curve, and the slippage generates large accumulated positioning errors in the vehicle compared with conventional wheeled mobile robots. To improve the accuracy of the odometry and enable a path-following control, the estimation of the track slippage is essential. In this paper, we propose an improved method of odometry for tracked vehicles to follow a straight line or a curve. In this method, the vehicle estimates the slip ratios using two encoders (attached to the actuators) and a gyro-sensor. Based on the improved odometry, the path-following control of tracked vehicles is significantly improved. The validity of the method was confirmed with experiments involving our tracked vehicle on several types of surfaces.