Positioning and Trajectory Tracking for Caterpillar Vehicles in Unknown Environment

This paper proposes positioning and trajectory tracking for Caterpillar Vehicles (CVs) in unknown environments. To do these tasks, the following are performed. Firstly, a system modeling of the Caterpillar Vehicle is presented. Secondly, solving the complicated tracking control problem in unknown environments is a challenging mission. Therefore, to guarantee the Caterpillar Vehicle system to be strong robustness against external disturbances in the unknown environments, a MIMO robust servo controller for tracking the desired trajectory is designed by using a Linear Shift Invariant Differential (LSID) operator. The CVs are able to accomplish various tasks in dangerous places where workers cannot enter. Thirdly, the positioning of the CV can be obtained using a Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) method. This paper develops perfectly the SLAM algorithm for positioning of the CV based on laser sensor Lidar. The main advantage of this method is that it does not need to use more landmarks. Landmarks can be obtained from the unknown environment. Thus, the CV can work even in unknown environments and unsafe places. Finally, to verify the effectiveness of the proposed MIMO robust servo controller and the SLAM positioning algorithm, the experimental results are presented. The experimental results demonstrate the adequate tracking performance of the proposed MIMO robust servo controller in the unknown environment.