Synthesis of action variable for motor controllers of a mobile system with special wheels for movement on stairs

SummaryThe article presents a procedure of obtaining waveform of angular velocities for special segmented wheels required for smooth movement of a stair-climbing chassis on stairs. The waveform was determined for a specified velocity of the chassis using a dynamic contact analysis in the CAD system SolidWorks. The main part of the work was to verify whether real motors on a testing chassis are capable of producing the required angular velocity with its significant step changes. The values of angular velocities were sent to drive control units from a software control system of the chassis. The chassis was recorded during the movement on stairs on a video camera and the resulting video was then analyzed by a special single-purpose image processing algorithm, which detected key points in individual frames. Outcome of the algorithm are tables with positions and velocities of individual key points during time. Tests proved that with lower velocities it is possible to achieve very good results with the chassis moving almost steadily.