Robotics II SS2019 Prof. Dr.-Ing.

Roth

Kinematics
Kinematics is the most basic study of how mechanical systems behave. In mobile robotics,
we need to understand the mechanical behavior of robots both in order to design appropriate
mobile robots for tasks and to understand how to create control software for an instance of
mobile robot hardware.

In this task, you will assemble a car-like robot with Ackermann steering mechanism. Build a
kinematic model for it following the given equations, then simulate it in Matlab and Simulink.

Prep Task

o Download the Ackermann demo file from

o Open and run the model in v-rep (use UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT arrow control keys
to drive around)
o Observe how the turning angles of the front wheels differ
o Also observe how the wheel velocities differ for all wheels during turning

Main Tasks

For simplicity, a bicycle model in Figure 2 is used to approximates the vehicle kinematics

Figure 1 Ackermann steering

Figure 2 Kinematic bicycle model
Model equations

x  v cos(   ) va
y  v cos(   ) l f  lr
 l  
v   tan  r tan( ) 
1
R
 sin(  )  l f  lr 
lr  

where  is the angle of the current velocity vector at the center of mass with respect to the
longitudinal axis of the vehicle and a is the acceleration of the vehicle.
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Submission Deadline: 06.05.2019
Robotics II SS2019 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roth

1. Using the provided LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 kit, assemble a four-wheeled car-like

robot with Ackermann steering geometry with minimum turning radius ≤ 0.5 m. The

car should exhibit the following actuation mechanisms:

a. Front wheel steering

b. Rear drive, and

c. Forward facing, horizontally actuated ultrasonic and infrared sensors (rotate in

horizontal plane)

2. Identify all parameters needed to complete the bicycle model equations

3. Build a Matlab/Simulink simulation driving the car along a sinusoidal path of

amplitude 1m . Add all simulation results in the report.

4. Build a Matlab/Simulink simulation driving the car along a rectangular path of size

1m  1m . Add all simulation results in the report.

5. Develop the following robot behaviors as matlab functions and provide test results

while running them in simulation (use a low-level controllers for each behavior)

a. Steering alignment, aligns the steering wheels to align with rear ones

b. Steering, aligns the wheels at any desired angle

c. Drive, drive the robot through a desired distance in a straight line using

encoders and a gyroscope. This includes driving backwards.

6. Connect and interact with the actual robot using Matlab and Simulink to perform

driving maneuvers on a 1m  1m square path in clockwise and counter-clockwise

directions using the behaviors developed in (5). In summary, the robot aligns the

wheels first, then drives around while turning whenever necessary. Record the real-

time performance as a 30 seconds video and matlab plots.

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Submission Deadline: 06.05.2019
Robotics II SS2019 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roth

Submission
Prepare pdf report (technical report), then package the report together with accompanying
videos into a winrar/zip. Name the file “Kit-number_Task-x and submit them through Moodle.

Note: Any graphs should be well labelled and legible (with a white background)

Adhere to the official deadline. Submission in person or after the deadline is not possible.

Contact
In case of any questions regarding this task, either send an email to nasser.gyagenda@uni-
siegen.de. or come in person to office H-F 113.

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Submission Deadline: 06.05.2019