Slip and turnover avoidance control for a track-type mobile robot

This paper describes a control method of mobile robots for avoiding slip and turnover in sloped terrain. An inexpensive vision/gyro sensor module that consists of a laser line generator, a USB camera and a gyro sensor, is suggested for obtaining terrain information nearby the robot system. Using information of the terrain and the robot state, the maximum limit of the forward velocity of the robot is defined for avoiding slip and turnover. Simultaneously the maximum value of the robot velocity is reflected to an operator in the form of a reflective force. Consequently the operator can recognize the maximum velocity of the robot determined by terrain information and the robot state. In this point of view, the inconsistency between the robot state and the user´s command can be compensated by the reflective force. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the suggested method.