A Motion Controller for Compliant Four-Wheel-Steering Robots

This paper proposes a behaviour-based approach for the motion control problem of sustainable and compliant Four-Wheel-Steering robots. Each wheel is considered to be an independent entity that must react according to some local rules. Motivated by the Virtual Components Approach, behaviours implement these local rules by means of a set of virtual elements with a physical counterpart (e.g. springs, potential fields) to describe the desired behaviour a part of the robot has relative to another one, or to the environment. The local emplacement of the virtual components allows an intuitive design of motion control systems rendering to a fast development phase. An instance for a four-wheel-steering robot is proposed and tested in simulation, demonstrating a good compliance w.r.t. the environment in order to reduce power consumption and mechanical stress.