Abstract-This paper addresses some control issues of a robotic amphibious vehicle that can serve as a general framework for automation of tractors used in construction. These include the vehicle's low-level dynamic equations, the development of its braking control system, kinematics in interactions with ground and the slip problem. Simulation and real-time results to date are presented.Index Terms-Unmanned Ground Vehicle, dynamic and kinematic modelling, skid-steering, sliding mode control, slip
I. INTRODUCTIONHE ARGO is an ongoing important project using a robotic amphibious vehicle as the experimental platform, currently developed at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems (CAS).The vehicle is a fully autonomous outdoor one that can serve as a general framework for automation of tractors used in construction. The robotic vehicle is automated from a 20hp, 3m x 1.45m x 1.1m, 0.5 ton automotive amphibious vehicle that can achieve 30km/h on land and 3km/h on water. The vehicle is equipped with throttle and left/right actuators, angular speed encoders, GPS, and other sensors for control and navigation.The vehicle, shown in Fig. 1, uses a V-twin combustion engine. Power is transmitted from the engine to the eight wheels through a continuous variable transmission (CVT), gearbox, differential and a chain system. The vehicle wheels are connected by a chain system and driven by the left and right outputs of a differential. Two brake discs are attached to the outputs of the differential and can be operated separately. The differential and braking system enables turning the vehicle (skid-steering). The driveline of the vehicle, shown in Fig. 2, consists of the engine, CVT, gearbox, differential (in gearbox), chain system, and eight wheels.