Pseudo-Kinematic Trajectory Control and Planning of Tracked Vehicles

Tracked vehicles distribute their weight continuously over a large surface area (the tracks). This distinctive feature makes them the preferred choice for vehicles required to traverse soft and uneven terrain. From a robotics perspective, however, this flexibility comes at a cost: the complexity of modelling the system and the resulting difficulty in designing theoretically sound navigation solutions. In this paper, we aim to bridge this gap by proposing a framework for the navigation of tracked vehicles, built upon three key pillars. The first pillar comprises two models: a simulation model and a control-oriented model. The simulation model captures the intricate terramechanics dynamics arising from soil-track interaction and is employed to develop faithful digital twins of the system across a wide range of operating conditions. The control-oriented model is pseudo-kinematic and mathematically tractable, enabling the design of efficient and theoretically robust control schemes. The second pillar is a Lyapunov-based feedback trajectory controller that provides certifiable tracking guarantees. The third pillar is a portfolio of motion planning solutions, each offering different complexity-accuracy trade-offs. The various components of the proposed approach are validated through an extensive set of simulation and experimental data.