Abstract:

A controller based on feedback linearization is designed in order to make the spherical robot’s longitudinal motion track the expected location considering strongly nonlinear motion of the spherical robot and the difference of flexible deformation and status of interface between rigid shell and soft shell. A dynamic model is advanced on longitudinal motion for the robot rolling with no-slip based on dynamic general principle. The conclusion is drawn that the performance of motion of the robot with soft shell is better than the rigid one according to the analysis on the dynamic model. A control algorithm based on feedback linearization is proposed applicable to the multi-input & multi-output system which ensures the robot tracking the expected angle with stable pose. The validity of the controller designed is verified by Matlab-Simulink.

Key words: dynamic general principle, feedback linearization, multi-input & multi-output, spherical rolling robot