A Dynamic Parameter Identification Method for Migrating Control Strategies Between Heterogeneous Wheeled Mobile Robots

Recent works on the control of wheeled mobile robots have shifted from the use of the kinematic model to the use of the dynamic model. Since theoretical results typically treat the inputs to the dynamic model as torques, few experimental results have been provided, as torque is typically not the input to most commercially available robots. Few papers have implemented controllers based on the dynamic model, and those that have did not address the issue of identifying the parameters of the dynamic model. This work focuses on a method for identifying the parameters of the dynamic model of a wheeled mobile robot. The method is shown to be both effective and easy to implement, and requires no prior knowledge of what the parameters may be. Experimental results on two mobile robots of different scale demonstrate its effectiveness. The estimates of the parameters created by the proposed method are then used in an adaptive controller to verify their accuracy. For future work, this method should be completed autonomously in a two-part manner, onboard the mobile robot. First, the robot should perform the method proposed here to generate an initial parameter estimate, and then use adaptive control to update the estimates. Acknowledgements I would like to show my gratitude to my advisors, Prof. Demetriou and Prof. Nestinger, who have both given me excellent guidance and support. Thanks to the Mechanical Engineering department for the supporting my education through a teaching assistantship. Working with Professors Furlong, Gatsonis, and Sullivan was a rewarding experience. I am grateful to Prof. Fischer, who provided me with much appreciated feedback regarding the content and structure of my thesis. Thanks to Yue Wang for the insightful conversations, and thanks to the rest of the friends I have made at WPI, including Jeff Court, Shalin Ye, Yao Wang, Mahdi Agheli, and Brendan Chenelle. A special thanks to my parents. If it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have even gone to college!