Slip Estimation and Compensation Control of Omnidirectional Wheeled Automated Guided Vehicle

To achieve Industry 4.0 solutions for the networking of mechatronic components in production plants, the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology is the optimal way for goods transportation in the cyber-physical system (CPS). As a result, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are networked to all other participants in the production system to accept and execute transport jobs. Accurately tracking the planned paths of AGVs is therefore essential. The omnidirectional mobile vehicle has shown its excellent characteristics in crowded environments and narrow aisle spaces. However, the slip problem of the omnidirectional mobile vehicle is more serious than that of the general wheeled mobile vehicle. This paper proposes a slip estimation and compensation control method for an omnidirectional Mecanum-wheeled automated guided vehicle (OMWAGV) and implements a control system. Based on the slip estimation and compensation control of the general wheeled mobile platform, a Microchip dsPIC30F6010A microcontroller-based system uses an MPU-9250 multi-axis accelerometer sensor to derive the longitudinal speed, transverse speed, and steering angle of the omnidirectional wheel platform. These data are then compared with those from the motor encoders. A linear regression with a recursive least squares (RLS) method is utilized to estimate real-time slip ratio variations of four driving wheels and conduct the corresponding compensation and control. As a result, the driving speeds of the four omnidirectional wheels are dynamically adjusted so that the OMWAGV can accurately follow the predetermined motion trajectory. The experimental results of diagonally moving and cross-walking motions without and with slip estimation and compensation control showed that, without calculating the errors occurred during travel, the distances between the original starting position to the stopping position are dramatically reduced from 1.52 m to 0.03 m and from 1.56 m to 0.03 m, respectively. The higher tracking accuracy of the proposed method verifies its effectiveness and validness.