Modeling and motion planning of wheeled mobile robots subject to slipping

We are studying the dynamics of wheeled mobile robots moving with longitudinal and lateral slips of all wheels. It is assumed that the slipping is counteracted by slip reaction forces acting at contact points of the wheels with the ground. A model of these reaction forces borrowed from the theory of automotive systems has been adopted, and included into the Lagrangian dynamic equations of the robot. In a control system representation of the dynamics the motion planning problem is addressed, and solved by means of the endogenous configuration space approach. A number of computer simulations involving the dynamics of the Pioneer 2DX mobile platform illustrate the performance of the motion planning algorithm.