Development and exploration of a Rigid Motorcycle model

We develop a nonlinear control system that captures some of the key features of an aggressively maneuvering motorcycle. The developed system, RigidMoto, consists of a rigid body that is constrained to maintain contact with the horizontal road plane at two body-fixed points. The contact point forces model, in a simplified manner, the normal and translational forces that would be produced by tire-road interactions at the front and rear contact points under various slip and steer conditions. Complex dynamic interactions make the development of maneuvers (and maneuvering objectives, in general) highly nontrivial. To this end, we use nonlinear least squares trajectory optimization to explore system trajectories. We present a RigidMoto trajectory that executes a chicance type maneuver. This maneuver exhibits the nonminimum phase countersteer characteristic known to motorcycle enthusiasts and scientists alike.