XXXII NATIONAL SYSTEMS CONFERENCE, NSC 2008, December 17-19, 2008

METHODOLOGY FOR KINEMATICS MODELING OF ARTICULATED

ROVERS, ENHANCED WITH FUZZY LOGIC SYSTEM.
Rajeev Kumar Sharma* and M.K Muju **

contribution of this paper is to enhance the

control
mechanism, where traditional control systems are
not
Abstract: The paper presents a modeling technique of articulated
capable of providing complex mobility on rough terrain
rover traversing uneven terrain i.e. or rough surface. The model is
topology. Here Mamdanis technique has been proposed to
given for full 6 degree of freedom motion. It can move in x, y, z,
utilize fuzzy logic control system to provide
much
(translation) and RPY (rotation). Differential Kinematics and Jacobian
sophisticated movements of ATRs.
has been developed for each wheel separately in contact with the
Fuzzy logic control system can be
used for both
terrain. The resulting wheel equations are then combined to design
controlling and adding intelligence to robot .Fuzzy logic
composite equation
for rover
motion. The derivations are
controllers may be used for
controlling robot in
specialized on Rocky 7, a highly Articulated prototype Mars-rover.
conjunction with classical control system .Through these
Simulation results are provided for motion of Rocky 7 over several
efforts a robot can become more intelligent and more
terrains to illustrate the implementation of the method.
sensitive and useful. On rough terrain Fuzzy logic control
It is extremely complex to construct precise and perfect mathematical
system can be used to enhance robot controller in
model due to inherent nonlinearities,time varying nature of process to
deciding what action to be taken depending upon some
be controlled ,large
unpredictable environmental disturbances
factors like speed of robot , the terrain , robots power etc.
,degrading sensors
and other difficulties in obtaining reliable
The subsequent section will present details of
measurements . A robot can, however, be made more intelligent, or
(a)forward and reverse kinematics model of OMRs and ATRs.
useful, using fuzzy logic system, adding intelligence to application
(b)Design of control system for classical and Fuzzy logic
where classical control systems may be in- capable or difficult to use.
controllers
In this paper a method has been proposed where simple on-and-off
The following definitions shall be utilized during the
control system is replaced by fuzzy rule base which enhances much
explanation of for kinematic model of above
sophisticated movement of rover over uneven terrain-topology. It has
A.Degree of Freedom: Best example is a gantry (x,y,z) crane
been proved that fuzzy logic controllers, contrary to classical
, that can place a ball at any location within its workplace as
controllers, are capable of utilizing knowledge retrieved from
specified by an operator.hence it has three degrees of freedom
experienced human operator using higher degree of membership.
because it need three pieces of information.
Simulation of fuzzy rule base is provided with FIDE software, for
B.Matrix oprators: the matrix H will be considered such an
much complex mobility system.
operator which transforms a oint or vector x into another
INDEX TERMS: All Terrain Rovers (ATRs), Fuzzy Inference
vector y. (y = H x )
Development Enviroment (FIDE) Knowledge Based System (KBS)
B1.Translational transformation: We can define
Denavit-Hartenberg(D-H).,RPY(Roll,Pitch,Yaw).OMRs(Ordinary
translational transformation Trans(a,b,c) as an operator that
Mobile Rovers) SCARA(Selctive Compliance Assembly Robot
moves a point defined by the original vector x to a new
Arm)GA(Genetic Algorithms)ANN(Artificial Neural Network)
point y, by the vector addition of x and a translation vector
I.INTRODUCTION
defined by the components a,b,c.
Most of research efforts on kinematics, have concentrated on simple
car- like four wheel mobile robots moving on flat surface, or
B2.Rotational transformation:
in addition to moving points along the vectors, it is possible to
predefined tracks ,as used by automatic guided vehicles- AGVs in
generate new positions in space by rotating them about an
manufacturing industries for pick and place or palletizing or material
axes.Rotational operator is obtained by geometrical
handling which are referred as OMRs. ATRs have sophisticated
interpretation as given
mobility system for enabling their movement over uneven terrain
, these robots are being used in diverse application as
C.Homogeneous Transformation
Position Matrix
planetary exploration,
Kinematics modeling of these robots Rotaion Matrix
(3x1)
(3x3)
n
o
a
can be classified in two main approaches Euler angle solution using
px
x
x
x
pre and post multiplication . ATRs have sophisticated mobility
ny
oy
ay
py
system for enabling their movement over uneven terrain , these
nz
oz
az
pz
robots are being used in diverse application as planetary
0
0
0
1
exploration,rescue operation, mine
detection
and demining
,agriculture ,military mission, inspection and cleaning operation of
Perspective
hazardous waste storage sites, search and recovery, security and fire
Scaling Factor
Transform
(1x1)
fighting.NASA has developed many ATRs ,for example, Rocky
(1x3)
series rovers developed at JPL(Jet Propulsion Laboratory) including
D.D-H Representation: To describe the translational and
Rocky4, Sojourner (deployed on Mars in July1997).
rotational relationship between adjacent links, Denavit-Hartenberg
The objective of this paper is to propose a methodology for
proposed a matrix method of systematically establish listing of
developing a comprehensive kinematics model of general ATR
coordinate system ( body attached frame ) to each link of an
and its interaction with terrain and environment[1].The
articulated chain .PUMA robot arm link coordinate

879

parameters are given as PUMA robot arm link coordinate

parmeters
Joint I
i
i
ai
di
1
90
-90
0
0
2
0
0
431.8
149.09
3
90
90
-20.32
0
4
0
-90
0
433.07
5
0
90
0
0
6
0
0
0
56.25
Wherei = is the angle from Xi 1 axis to Xi axis
about the Zi-1 axis ,di = is the distance from the origin of the
(I-1) th coordinate frame to the intersection of the Zi-1 axis
with the Xi axis along the Zi-1 axis ,ai = is the offset distance
from intersection Zi-1 axis with the Xi axis to the origin of the
ith frame along the Xi axisi = is the offset angle from Zi-1
axis to the Zi axis about the Xi axis .
II.DESIGN OF KINEMATIC MODEL OF OMRs
Kinematic Equation for manipulators
Here homogeneous matrix 0Ti which specifies the location of
the ith coordinate frame with respect to the base coordinate
system is the chain product of successive coordinate
transformation matrix of I-1 AI and is expressed as ( for
PUMA robot)

Cos i -cos i sini sinisin i ai cos i

i-1

Ai = Sin i cos i cosi

-sin i cos i ai sin i

sin i

cos i

di

Where i-1 Ai = 1A2 2A3 3A4 4A5 5A6 -(1)

The transformation matrix T
is already expressed as
composite transformation matrix ,

nx
ny
nz
0

T=

ox
oy
oz
0

ax
ay
az
0

px
py
pz
1

0
0
-1
0

-1
0
0
0

0
0
0
0

-149.09
921.12
20.32
1

nx
ny
nz

ox
oy
oz

ax
ay
az

= R Z,

Ru , Rw,

SC CC -S CS -CS-SCC
SS
+CC S
-S +CCC
-C S
SS
SC
C
We get corresponding values of , br equating
elements of above matrix equation
nx = CC -S CS
ox = -CS-SCC
ax = SS
ny = SC +CC S
oy =-S +CCC
ay =-C S
nz = SS
oz = SC
az= C
using above 9 equation we get a solution as
= cos-1

[az]

[Oz /S]
-1

= cos
(2)

By solving equations (1)and (2) we get 12 transcendental

equation viz. nx ox ax px ny oy ay py nz oz az pz in terms of di ai
i i. Hence we get positional orientation in terms of joint
angles. This is called forward kinematics.As a check , if 1
=900 2 = 00 3 = 900 4= 00 5= 00 6 = 00
T=

Classification Of Manipulators:These are classified

according to degree of freedom , like PUMA robot arm
is classified as 6R, and Stanford arm as 2R-P-3R,
where R is a revolute joint, and P is a prismatic joint.
Euler angle Solution Inverse kinematics: if position
and orientation is known , in terms of its joint and link
parameters , we can determine the corresponding joint
angles of the robot so that the end effector can be
positioned as desired,the 3x3 rotation matrix can be
expressed in terms of the Euler angles ( , , ) as

= cos-1 [-ay/ S]
In fact above solution is inconsistent and ill conditioned
,so pre and post multiplication techniques i with arc
tangent function is used to get the correct quadrant of
the angle. Still it depends on the intuition of user
because we have to select one best result from several
solution .
III. DESIGN OF KINEMATIC MODEL OF ATRs.
In this section we develop a general approach kinematic
modeling of an ATR. The emphasis here is on deriving
the equation of motion of the rover components relative
to a rover reference frame .Finally the rover motion with
respect to world coordinate system , will be developed
where the interaction of the rover with the terrain will be
addressed. Heart of the model is DH representation
discussed below.

880

shown in figure 2.This conact angle is the key distinction

between
OMR moving on flat surface and ATR
traversing uneven terrain. In the case of OMR the Z- axis
of contact frame is aligned with Z-axis of the wheel axle,
hence contact angle is always zero.whereas in case of
ATR , i is variable. Theses contact angles play an
important role in kinematics modeling of ATRs .
The contact coordinate frame Ci is obtained from the
axle coordinate frame Ai by rotating i about the axle,
then translating by wheel radius r in the negative z
direction .

We define an ATR as a wheeled mobile robot consisting main

body connected to
wheels via a set of of joints and
linkages.the rover is capable of locomotion over uneven terrain
by rolling of wheels and adjusting its joints and the only contact
with the terrain is at the wheel surface.

Z
Y

(a)

TAi,Ci,

Rover
Body (R)
(b)

Ci ( t-t)

Contact

ZAi

S i
0
C i
0

X Ci
y

(f)

T Ci,

ZAi
XAi

Ci

(d)

Set of Joints

R, R

ZAi

Ai

Ci ( t)

i
r i+ i

(Incremental Motion by rolling and slip)

X
Ai

C denote sine and

(c)

-rS i
0
rC i
1

ZCi

ZCi

C i
S i
=
0
0
=

0
z
-y
0

S i
C i
0
0

0
0
1
0

-z
0
x
0

r i+ i
i
0
1
y
-x
0
0

x
y
z
1

This leads to the equation in the form

[ x y z x y z]T = Ji [q i i i]T

(e)
Ci

0
1
0
0

Where I = 1,2..n and S and

cosine.

Wheel

Axel

C i
0
(i= -S
i
0

XAi

I
I
I
.
.
.
I6

X Ci
Geometric description of a generalized ATR (a) Perspective View
(b)Rover Body (c)Case of OMR ( d) Case of ATR.(e)Coordinate
frame for terrain contact at wheel I

The contact angle i is the angle between the z-axis

Where Ji
of ith wheel axle and contact coordinate frame , as

881

x
y
z
x
y
z

q
=J

i
i
i

is the jacobian matrix . above equation describes the contribution of individual

wheel motion and connecting joints to rover body motion ,the net body motion
is the composite effect of all wheels . and can be obtained by combining above
equation into a single matrix equation as

Hence this way we get rates of rover configuration parameters

in terms of rate of corresponding joint angles and rates of
various slips.
IV. DESIGN OF CLASSICAL CONTROL SYSTEM:
The contact angle can be adapted using following adaptation
schemes.It is the simple ON and OFF control system without
sophisticated level of control, and there is no facility of self
adaption.
Proportional control: By this method the Sluggish overdamped
response of the control system can be faster by increasing forward
path gain of the system.the increase in the forward path gain reduces
the steady state error but at the same time maximum overshoot is
increased.
Derivative control: Still there is problem in getting the stability , so
we use integral conroller, PID controller , derivative feed back control
etc.Various conpensation techniques are used to provide stability to
the control system , like, phase lead , phase lag , lead lag
compensation etc. But we dont get the desired robust
control.K.J. Astrom and Bjorn Wittenmark proposed various
methods on adaptive control.
Adaptive schemes:four types of adapting schemes are
useGain
scheduling
,Model
Reference
Adaptive
Systems(MRAS),Self Tuning Regulators , Dual control
V.DESIGN OF FUZZY LOGIC CONTROL SYSTEM:
Advantages of fuzzy logic system:
1.in cases of industrial process control e.g. in chemical
industries , the degree of automation is quite low,There is
variety of basic conventional control loops, but a human
operator is needed , during the starting or closing phase, for
parametrizing the controllers.The knowledge of this operator
is based on experience and can not be expressed in differential
equation, it is rather of this type if the situation is such and
such , I should do the following, In this case fuzzy control offers
a method of representing and implementing the expert
knowledge.
2: Robust nonlinear control:consider a problem : a robot arm
with several links has to move objects with different masses
along the predefined path, PID controllers works pretty well, but
in presence of disturbances( parameter variation, external
disturbances etc) but we have to trade off between fast
reaction with overshoot, or slow reaction with no overshoot.
3: Reduction of maintenance and development time:in
some cases , two different groups of expert are involved in the
development of a control system . field expert know the
application problem and how to design appropriate control
strategies.often there are not electronic experts who know the
bits and bytes of numerical algorithms and micro controller
implementation. Actual system realization then is carried out
by electronics and system programming engineers, who on the
other hand are not familiar with application problems.

4: Marketing and patents: In Japan fuzzy has

become one of the most popular word . The one- touchbutton washing machine , for example , constitutes
major advance with respect to the large control panels of
the older washing machines.
Introduction To Fuzzy Logic Control:Before going to
discuss this topic, let us take an example of temperature
control thermostat. suppose we want to control the
temperature at a baseline of 750.so that if the
temperature is more than the base line the air
conditioning should turn on.and if it is cooler than the
baseline it should be turnoff. To do this we want to set
. In a simple
the thermostat control to 750
microprocessor control we may write the control
statement such as
IF TEMPERATURE 750 TURN ON A/C

750

750

(Conventional control system)

Fuzzy control system: One way to improve the

flexibility of this control statement is to add another
statement to it that would turn ON the air conditioning at
little lower temperature, but at slightly lower power
setting .Then we may change the preceding control
statement and add another control statement to it as
follows.
0

IF TEMPERATURE 70 TURN ON A/C 90% FULL POWWER

0
IF TEMPERATURE 75 TURN ON A/C FULL POWER

Now we have added a bit of flexibility to the system , as

it is not just dependent on one single value to operate
,but it will react differently depending on the temperature.
Notice that still for each statement , the controller reacts
to one single value .As a result even at 74.990 the
system is at 90% of full power. a technique called fuzzy
inference control .
Fuzzy Sets:Degree Of Membership And Truth.
To use a fuzzy value in a control setting , we define a
fuzzy set, in which a set of values all related to fuzzy
values are the members of fuzzy set. Each value in the
fuzzy set has a degree of membership within the set,
varying from 100% membership (1) to 0% membership
(0). true to 0% true.
Fuzzification: It is the process of converting input and
output values into their membership functions . the result
of fuzzification is a set of graphs that describe the
degree of membership of different values in different
fuzzy variables.
Defuzzification:It is conversion of fuzzy output value to
an equivalent crisp value for actual use.
Mamdanis Inference Method :In this method the
membership function of each set is truncated at the
corresponding membership value as shown below

882

Step1: Truncate each output membership function at its

Very-Rough
corresponding membership value which is found from the rule
Moderate Smooth
1
Degree of membership
Rough
base.
Step2: Add the remaining truncated membership function with
an OR function in order to consolidate them into one area
0.5
describing the output .
Step3:Calculate the center of gravity of the consolidated area
as the crisp output value into one area describing the output .
Step3:Calculate the center of gravity of the consolidated area
as the crisp output value
0
60% 20% 0%
100%
Function1

Function2

Function3

Terrain

Degree of
Membership

Slow
Very-Slow

X2

Medium

Fast Very-Fast

1
Degree of membership

X1

0.5
0.3

Variable
Defuzzyfication based on Mamdanis method

Fuzzy logic system for the motion control of a mobile

robot on rough terrain :
Rule base:
If slope is Large +ve and terrain is V-Rough then speed is Very-Slow;
If slope is Large +ve and terrain is Rough then speed is Slow;
If slope is Large +ve and terrain is Moderate then speed is Medium;
If slope is Large +ve and terrain is Smooth then speed is Medium;
If slope is Positive and terrain is Very-Rough then speed is Very-Slow;
If slope is Positive and terrain is Rough then speed is Slow;
If slope is Positive and terrain is Moderate then speed is Medium;
If slope is Positive and terrain is Smooth then speed is Fast;
If slope is Level and terrain is Very-Rough then speed is Slow;
If slope is Level and terrain is Rough then speed is Medium;
If slope is Leveland terrain is Moderate then speed is Fast;
If slope is Level and terrain is Smooth then speed is Very-Fast;
If slope is Negative and terrain is Very-Rough then speed is Very Slow
If slope is Negative and terrain is Rough then speed is Slow ;
If slope is Negative and terrain is Moderate then speed is Medium ;
If slope is Negative and terrain is Smooth then speed is Fast ;

Input and output Fuzzy Sets:

Level

Negative

Positive

Large-Positive

Large-Negative

1
0.5
0
-45

45

Speed10

15

19

The surface shown in figure (g) is the control surface .

Future scope: If you have a fuzzy logic control simulator
, you may develop fuzzy logic control program for a
mobile robot , for specific task, ( from home cleaning
robot, to space explorer rovers) for a vision system, or
other similar applications. The fuzzy logic control
program may be written either controlling the robot
motions, or it may be written for other purposes ,For
example , one may write fuzzy control heuristic program
such that the robot will follow a certain path based on
fuzzy inputs. In addition Artificial Neural Network (ANN)
For which Genetic Algorithms (GA) May be developed
for nano movement of rovers.So many fuzzy logic
development software
such as Fuzzy Knowledge
Builder, by McNeill, F. Martin, Ellen Thro, are available
that you can us that you can use to simulate your
designs. for a vision system.
Software available :Fuzzy Design Generator( FUDGE) ,
Motorola,FIDE by Aptronics Inc.Fuzzy Knowledge
Builder by McNeill , F. Martin, Ellen Thro.
VI: Simulation Results The surface shown in figure (g)
is the control surface,.Result of the simulation of the
system developed in this paper with FIDE software is
Shown in fig(h),Traces of front wheels for a serpentine
path is shown figure (i) for Rocky7.Traces of front
wheels over unsymmetrical wavy bump (h) and serpentine
path (i)

Slope

883

(g)

(h)

(i)

Conclusion
A methodology has been presented for developing
kinematic model of articulated rovers. The kinematic
model allows full 6-degree of freedom motion, and is
applicable to any high mobility wheeled rover traversing
uneven terrain . The simulation results has been
presented for
prototype mars rover which has a
relatively complex mobility system.The Fuzzy logic
control is superior to conventional control system for
much sophisticated mobility system.Fuzzy logic rule
base has been developed for variation in contact angle
(j)
and slip rates as per change in the topology of the
surface.Defuzzyfication by Mamdanis Mathod has been
used to calculate power output of the traction system.
The sensing and control is not explained , Total focus
applied on developing the mathematical model , and
Techniques for generating the Fuzzy rule base to make
any rover a self - adapting machine.
Acknowledgement
Authers are thankful to the management of AKGEC for
support and encouragement for publication of this paper in
NEECT.One of the authers * is grateful of ME department and
Prof. Dave
for assistance for the paper based on
M.Tech.Thesis being submitted to UP Technical University.
REFERENCES:
[1] K.S.Fu, R.C.Gonzalez and
S.G.Lee Robotics
Control,Sensing,Vision and Intelligence.
[2]John Astrom and Bjorn Wittenmark Adaptive Control
2nd Ed.
[3] D.Driankov,H Hellendoorn and M Reinfrank An
Introduction to Fuzzy Control
[4] Mahmoud Tarokh and J.Mc Dermott Kinematics
Modelling and analysis of Articulated Rovers IEEE
transaction on Robotics Vol 21 No.4 August 2005.
[5]Saeed
B.NikuIntroduction
to
Robotics
analysis,system and applications. PHI.
[6]Richard D.Klafter Thomas A Chmielewski and Michael
Negin Robotics Engineering An integrated approach
[7] Richard P.Paul Design of Manipulators
[8] Rajeev Kumar Sharma Kinematics Modeling of
articulated Rovers work on M.Tech Thesis to be
submitted to UP Technical University.
[9] www.jpl.nasa.gov/
[10] www.kuka.in
[11]www.parirobotics.com
[12] www.abb.com/roboticsoftware
[13]www.rythmsoftindia.com[
[15]www.ieee.org/ras
*The auther is M.Tech student of AKGEC
**The auther is Professor of AKGEC.

Rocky 7 Prototype Mars rover

884