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The kinematic model after all is rel)resented in recur- Before approximation After approximation
sion and sunnnarized by the following equations. Figure 4: Approxinmtion of Yanlanliya's trailer.
~i in 1~;(ts.(3)-(8) is w r i t ( e l l as
.i: = cos 0,, v,, (3)
= sin 0,, v,,. (4) 0 (i : odd)
(10)
0'0 = w (,5) @ : 0i - 0~-1 (i:evc~)
248
2.2.2 ITS Model between r and the path following performance. Sim-
The ITS (Intelligent Transport System) projects have ulations are done for the 23 dimensional model, of a
been studied in the U.S. and Europe as well as in tractor with 20 trailers. The index of path follow-
J a p a n to reduce traffic j a m and accidents by making ing error is the mean of time average of trailer errors.
full use of the latest information technology. At truck Each trailer's error is the normal distances from the
platoon system was conducted in the C H A U F F E U R reference trajectory to the center of trailer. Three typ-
Project. Each driverless truck is steered through ical trajectories of a tractor are defined and shown in
car-to-car communication[11], which is regarded as a Table 1, where di = 1(i = 1 , . . . , n), R and L are the
trailer system connected by invisible rods. The pro- radius and the length of clothoidal curve.
posed basic PD control law is, Table 1: Tractor's trajectory
clothoid R L = 100
6i = k1,(di)pi + kd(di)tii (11) circle x2 + y2 = 5 2
sinusoid y = 2(1 - cos(0.7x))
where tti is the relative angle and d i is the distance
between the i th and i - I th trucks. ~5i is tile steering 'File results of simulation are shown in Figs. 5
through 7. Note that the case with r = 0 corresponds
angle of the i th truck, kz,(di ) is determined such that
the rear wheels of tile i th truck precisely follow those to Sordalen's model. The temporal change of a trailer
system is shown by solid lines, among of which the cir-
of the i - 1th truck when they move on circular trajec-
cled ones indicate the initial and final configurations.
tories, k d ( d i ) is called the dynamic stabilizer and s e t
A dotte(l curve shows the trajectory of the tractor.
zero in this paper.
The n th trailer is initially located at the origin. Fig-
Rewriting Eq.(11) yields the I T S model,
ures 5, 6 and 7 show the results for clothoidal, circular,
and sinusoidal trajectories, respectively.
0.5(0i+l-0i) (i:odd)
¢i = 0 (i : e v e n ) (12)
where r is called tile steering gain. Note that the last From t,hese simulation results and those carried out
trailer is not steered. with different va.lues of path p a r a m e l e r s , a single im-
port.ant feature is obserw, d. When I' is less than 0.5,
4 Design O p t i m i z a t i o n in the Three- lhe profile of trailer sysi.em tends to move inner and
Point M o d e l inner or shrink as time goes on. On the other hand if I'
grows even slightly over 0.5, the trailer profile starts t.o
4.1 Optimal Steering Gain
show a zigzag motion. Repeatedly, the fact was com-
In this subsection the optimal steering gain is to be mon for all of clothoidal, circular, and sinusoidal paths
discussed by nmnerical]y investigating the relationship and for many other parameter choices of the paths.
249
in the practical path following through the numerical
analysis of relationship between the steering gain and
the path following performance.
The authors understand the importance of analyt-
ical investigation, although the numerical sinmlation
was adopted in the analysis in this section. The index
r=-I = 0 (Sordalen's model' of performance, unfortunately, shows high nonlinear-
ity including path parameters dependent on the choice
of path as well as the configuration variables that
evolve nonintegrable differentiM equation, It is left for
the fl~ture research to provide the optimal three-point
model with an analytical insight. In particular, it is
interesting l,hat the emergent of zigzag trailer profile
is vary sensitive wilh the growth of r beyond 0.5.
r=0.5 r = 0.51 4.2 Comparison with Industry Designs
Figure 6: Motion of trailer system with circular tra- We compare path following performance of the
jectory. Sordalen model, the optimal three-point model, the
Yamamiya model and lhe ITS mo(lel. Figures 8
through 10 show the behaviors of the Yamamiya and
,0 ITS models. Behaviors of tile Sordalen model and
optimal three-point model are seen in right-top and
left-bottom of Figs. 5 through 7, respectively. Table 2
shows the path following error in summary. The error
i
is measured based on the same definition described in
i ~0 ,'s ia ~is 1o is g w is N is J0 ,is the previous subsection, and normalized by that of the
r= --1 r = 0 (S¢,rda.len's model) optimal three-point model.
rraa~
+J ' x . o f N ~ . / ' V ~
M~rmr -, I,r~J
a
o ~ Io ~s ~n #5 ~o is
r=O.5 r : 0.515
Figure 7: Motion of trailer system with sinusoidal t,ra,- Yamamlya model ITS model
jectory. Figure 8: Motion of trailer system with clothoidM tra-
jectory.
250
follows: Substituting Eq.(13) in Eq.(6) and replacing
lO ,d
vi-1 with - v i _ 1 yields
1
rrm~r n 0i = - ~ i {cos(1 - r)(Oi_, - Oi)tan r(0i - 0i+1)
-s ~al --> r~l
-la 10
+ s i n ( 1 - r)(Oi_] - Oi) }vi-] (15)
Q ~ t0 is
x
~0 ~s 5o ' 0 g w i~
1
k0 ~s ~ ~s 1
Yamamiya model ITS model = - ~-,.{sin r(Oi - 0i+]) (16)
Figure 10: Motion of trailer system with sinusoidal + cos r(Oi - Oi+~)tan(1 - r)(0i-] - Oi)}vi
trajectory.
We then reverse indexing of a tractor and trailers by
Table 2: Error from reference trajectory
replacing Oi+a wil,h 0i-1, and vi with vi-1 in Eq.(16).
Sordalen Y a m a m i y a l ITS
Then,
elothoid 20.11 10.85 i 2.29
circle 10.75 4.17 ii 1.66 , 1
= g{cos,-(0f - rant1 - ,.)(0,: -
sinusoid 2.43 1.94 , 2.12 i
+ s i n r(0;_l - 0i))}vi-i (17)
The behavior of these models, in general, resemble the
three-point model with r < 0.5. The reader should notice that the above equation is
equivalent to Eq.(6) with 0i = (1 - r)(Oi+a - Oi). In
4.3 Backward Motion other words a backward motion of the system with
sleering gain r is equivalent to a forward motion of the
Backward motion of trailer systems has not been
system with steering gain 1 - r. Therefore, if and only
discussed in the literature, which seems due to the
if r = 0.5, a trailer system shows non-zigzag motions
fact that it apparently tends to show a zigzag or un-
in both forward and backward directions.
stable motion. Figure 11 shows the results of simula.-
lion when the tractor drives trailers backward along Since the fi-ont trailer in the backward motion has
the dotted trajectory. fixed steering On --- 0, the trailer system has to fol-
lowed the tangential straight line. Therefore, if we
provide the n ~h trailer with an active steering, the new
trailer system can be completely driven backward di-
rection as well as in the forward direction. In the for-
ward motion, we fix ¢,, to 0. In the backward motion,
the angular velocity of the n th trailer is driven by the
n th trailer's on-board actuator, while the linear veloc-
ity of the n ta trailer is driven by the tractor's push-
ing force. The tractor is controlled so as t.o keel) the
S¢,rdalen model Optimal three-poin! mode] wheel shaft crossing perpendicular to the first, trailer's
rod. The pushing velocity v0 is calculated from v,,. via
i Eq.(7).
5 Differential Kinematic Analysis and
Control of the Three-Point Model
5.1 Chained Form Convertibility
The chained form[3] is a canonical form for a
Yammniya model ITS model class of driftless nonholonomic systems. Thanks to
Figure 11: Backward motion of trailer system with the simplicity of the chained form, many usefid con-
circular trajectory. trol schemes have been devek)ped. 'Fhe sufficient
conditions[7] For converting of a kinematic model to
Except for the optimal three-poinli model, all the the chained form are,
trailer models showed the zigzag motion. The opti- (A) Kinematic model being convertible into a trian-
mal three-point mode/ resulted in stable motion, but gular structm'e.
followed a straight line that is tangentially connected (B) The triangular structure satisfies Eq. (43) in ap-
to the circular reference. The reason is explained as l)endix A.
251
Equations (3)-(8) are rewritten as, Of.+2 1 - r
- - - (30)
0aa+l d, cos x,~+~ cos2(1 - r ) ( x , + l - x,~+2)
y = v tan0,, (18)
0f,,+a 1 (31)
1 (~Xn+ 2 COS2 J2n+ 2
Oi = ~ 7 ( - G i sill 0 i + s i n ( 0 i - I -- Oi + ¢ i - 1 ))
i
def ,
COSr(Xi -- X i + l ) :~ 0 (i = 3,-.., n + 1) (32)
where, v = x. If 0i = (}i(Oi-1), we call converl the
kinematic model into an n + 3 dimensional triangular Therefore, condition (B) is satisfied if v # 1. This
structure by setting concludes that tile three point model is chained-form
convertible. Scrdalen and ITS nlodels also satisfy tile
(20) chained-form convertibility, hut Yamanliya nlodel or
most conlmon design of trailer syst(,ms ill industry do
[,, .., 0,,, (21)
not enjoy this property.
Tile tllree point model sat, isfies
5.2 Control for the Chained Form
0i=0i(0~) (i=l,. ..-1) (22) We will show, for exanlple, an open-loop control
0,, = 0.(0,,-~) (23) with time polynonlials[13]. The inl)ut of the chained
form is written by
Next., f i in Eq. (40) are expressed as,
vl = b0 (33)
tall r(xa - x4) + tan(a~2 - x3)
f3= d l cos x n + 2 v2 = co + e i t + " " + c,,_~(~)
r~--2
. (34)
n-I-ii COS r(Xj -- Xj+I) (24) The coefficients are determined from the boundary
conditions of z, which is calculated from the initial
and final position. Figure 12 shows that tile optimal
tau r(xi - - J2i+l) "4"-t a n ( 1 - r)(Xi_ 1 - - Xi)
fi ~ three point model with 2 trailers being controlled by
di-2 c o s x n + 2
the time polynomial inputs. Also shown in Fig. 12 is
n+l COS r(.Xj -- X j + i ) the result of the S0rdMen's model with the same open
(25)
loop control strategy. 'File both nlodels exhibited a
3:z
similar response to the open loop control.
(i=4,..,,n+l)
tan(1 - r ) ( x . + l - x.+2)
fn+2 = (~6)
d n COS a~n+ 2
f n + 3 ---- t, a n x n + 2 (27)
which yiehl,
1
0 .r "e di cos a.,,+,, cos'-'(x=, - x3)
,~+1 COS r(d'j -- J ' j + l ) SordMen's model T h r e e l)ohlt, model(r = 0.5)
(28)
inl0at tnl~
Of; - r
252
o f linear and circular trajectries. Figure 16 s h o w s tile
6 Prototyping and Experiments
backward motion, where trailer n is steeered as men-
6.1 Prototyping tioned in subsection 4.3 to follow a circular reference
In this subsection we propose some mechanisms for trajectory, Note that. the trailer system keeps n o n -
implementing optimal three-point model. In Example z i g z a g motion.
l -l.ill
~
' ~/l g o d of
~ ~ " traileri
Rodof~ G ~
: tt'fdleri+l !
253
Acknowledgment A Chained Form Conversion[7]
T h i s research was s u p p o r t e d by t h e " R o b o t Brain
P r o j e c t , " C R E S T P r o g r a m of J a p a n Science and T h e chained form
Technology C o r p o r a t i o n , J a p a n .
:il = v~ (35)
References
d2 = v~ (36)
[1] J. P. Launmnd, "Feasible trajectories for mobile ii = z i - l v l (i = 3 , . . . , n ) (37)
robots with kinematic and environment, constraints",
in Proc. lnternatiotml Conference on Intelligent A uti- is a canonical form of a class of driftless nonholo-
nomous Systems, pp, 346-354, 1986. nomic s y s t e m s , with two i n p u t s and n d i m e n s i o n a l
[2] J. P. Laumond and T. Sim6on, "Motion planning for s t a t e space. All t h e s y s t e m s c o n v e r t i b l e to the chained
a two degrees of freedom mobile robot with towing", form are c o n t r o l l a b l e .
i~t Proc. h~tern.tional Conference on Control and Ap- It is difficult 1.o find a conversion from a. k i n e m a t i c
plicatons, 1989. model to the chained form. We first convert it i n t o a
[3] R. Murra.y and S. Saslry, "'Nonholonomie motion t r i a n g u l a r s t r u c t u r e . Namely,
planning: Sleering using sinusoids', lEEE Tr, ns-
actions on Automatic ('ontrol, vol. 38, pp. 700 716. & = ul (38)
1993. ~d'e = u'e (39)
[4] O. J. Sorda.len. "Teedback control of nonholonomic a;i = f i ( x i - ~ ) u l (i = 3 , . . - , , ) (40)
mobile robots", Ph.D thesis ITK-rapport 1993:5 W,
the Norwegian Inslitule of Technology, 1993. where
def
[5] M. Sampei, "A control strategy for a class of non- x_j. = [ x i , " - , x , ] z (41)
holonomic systems - time-state control form and its
f i ( x i - t ) dS [ f i ( x i - 1 ) , " ' ' , f . . ( x , , - 1 ) ] 7~ (42)
application : , in Proc. 3&'d Conference on Decision
and Control, pp. 1120-1121, 1994.
where f i t ' ) is a s m o o t h function. A s s u m e t h a t at x = p
[6] C. Samson, "Time-varying feedback stabilization of on the c o n f i g u r a t i o n m a n i f o l d we have
nonholonomic car-like mobile robots", Technical Re-
port 1515, INR1A-Sophia Antipolis, September 1991. Ofi(xi-1)
0~_t I,:p # 0 (i = a , . . . , , ) (43)
[7] O. J. S0rdalen and K. Y. WicMund, "Exponential sta-
bilization of car with n t,railers", in Proc. 32th Con-
fevence on Decision and Control, pp. 978-983, 1993. T h e n , at the n e i g h b o r h o o d of x = p, a c o o r d i n a t e
t r a n s f o r m a t i o n from t h e t r i a n g u l a r s t r u c t u r e to the
[8] Y. Nakamura O. J. So rdalen and W. J. Chung, "De-
sign of a nonholonomic manipulator", in Proc. 1994 chained form is given by
l E E S International Conference on Robotics and Au-
tomation, pp. 8--13, 1994, z. = h,(x,,) (44)
254