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Control and Navigation of an Autonomous Bicycle
Mälardalen University, School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Embedded Systems.
2023 (English)Licentiate thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Autonomous control of mobile robots is a research topic that has received a lot of interest. There are several challenging problems associated with autonomous mobile robots, including low-level control, localisation, and navigation. Most research in the past has focused on developing algorithms for three or four-wheeled mobile robots, such as autonomous cars and differential drive robots, which are statically stable systems. In this thesis, autonomous two-wheeled robots are considered, such as autonomous bicycles, which are naturally unstable systems, and without proper actuation, they will lose balance and fall over. Thus, before developing algorithms for higher-level functionality such as localisation and navigation of an autonomous bicycle, the balance of the bicycle needs to be addressed. This is an interesting research problem as the bicycle is a statically unstable system that has proven difficult to control, but given adequate forward velocity, it is possible to balance a bicycle using only steering actuation. Moreover, given a sufficient forward velocity, the bicycle can even become self-stabilised.

In this thesis, the balance and trajectory tracking of an autonomous bicycle is investigated. First, we propose an extension of previously proposed bicycle models to capture the steering dynamics including the motor used for controlling the handlebar. Next, several control methods which can stabilise an autonomous bicycle by actuation of the steering axis and the forward velocity of the bicycle are developed. The controllers are compared in simulations on both a linear and nonlinear bicycle model. The simulation evaluation proceeds with experiments conducted on an instrumented bicycle running on a bicycle roller. Moreover, trajectory tracking of an autonomous bicycle is addressed using a model predictive controller approach where the reference lean angle is computed at every sample interval and is tracked by the balance controller in the inner loop. Finally, path planning in a static environment is considered where the proposed strategy realises a smooth path that adheres to the kinematic and dynamic constraints of the bicycle while avoiding obstacles and optimises the number of heading changes and the path distance. The results obtained from detailed multibody simulations highlight the feasibility of the balance controller, trajectory tracking controller, and path planner. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Västerås: Mälardalens universitet, 2023.
Series
Mälardalen University Press Licentiate Theses, ISSN 1651-9256 ; 336
National Category
Robotics Control Engineering
Research subject
Electronics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-61612ISBN: 978-91-7485-580-7 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mdh-61612DiVA, id: diva2:1730676
Presentation
2023-03-21, Gamma och online, Mälardalens universitet, Västerås, 13:15 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2023-01-25 Created: 2023-01-25 Last updated: 2023-02-28Bibliographically approved
List of papers
1. A loop shaping method for stabilising a riderless bicycle
Open this publication in new window or tab >>A loop shaping method for stabilising a riderless bicycle
2019 (English)In: 2019 European Conference on Mobile Robots, ECMR 2019 - Proceedings, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. , 2019, article id 8870965Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Several control methods have been proposed to stabilise riderless bicycles but they do not have sufficient simplicity for practical applications. This paper proposes a practical approach to model an instrumented bicycle as a combination of connected systems. Using this model, a PID controller is designed by a loop shaping method to stabilise the instrumented riderless bicycle. The initial results show that the bicycle can be stabilised when running on a roller. The work presented in this paper shows that it is possible to self stabilise a riderless bicycle using cascade PI/PID controllers.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2019
National Category
Computer Systems
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-46028 (URN)10.1109/ECMR.2019.8870965 (DOI)000558081900060 ()2-s2.0-85074409347 (Scopus ID)9781728136059 (ISBN)
Conference
2019 European Conference on Mobile Robots, ECMR 2019; Prague; Czech Republic; 4 September 2019 through 6 September 2019
Available from: 2019-11-14 Created: 2019-11-14 Last updated: 2023-01-26Bibliographically approved
2. On the Initialization Problem for Timed-Elastic Bands
Open this publication in new window or tab >>On the Initialization Problem for Timed-Elastic Bands
2023 (English)In: IFAC PAPERSONLINE, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2023, Vol. 56, p. 11802-11807-Conference paper, Published paper (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Path planning is an important part of navigation for mobile robots. Several approaches have been proposed in the literature based on a discretisation of the map, including A*, Theta*, and RRT*. While these approaches have been widely adopted also in real applications, they tend to generate non-smooth paths, which can be difficult to follow, based on the kinematic and dynamic constraints of the robot. Time-Elastic-Bands (TEB) have also been used in the literature, to deform an original path in real-time to produce a smoother path, and to handle potential local changes in the environment, such as the detection of an unknown obstacle. This work analyses the effects on the overall path for different choices of initial paths fed to TEB. In particular, the produced paths are compared in terms of total distance, curvature, and variation in the desired heading. The optimised version of the solution produced by Theta* shows the highest performance among the considered methods and metrics, and we show that it can be successfully followed by an autonomous bicycle. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2023
Keywords
Planning, Optimisation, Time-Elastic-Bands, Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles, Navigation
National Category
Robotics
Research subject
Electronics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-61445 (URN)10.1016/j.ifacol.2023.10.574 (DOI)001196708400678 ()2-s2.0-85184957931 (Scopus ID)
Conference
22nd World Congress of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)
Available from: 2023-01-09 Created: 2023-01-09 Last updated: 2024-04-17Bibliographically approved
3. Trajectory tracking and stabilisation of a riderless bicycle*
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Trajectory tracking and stabilisation of a riderless bicycle*
2021 (English)In: 2021 IEEE International Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC), 2021, p. 1859-1866Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Trajectory tracking for an autonomous bicycle is considered in this paper. The trajectory tracking controller is designed using a Model Predictive Controller with constraints on the lean, steer, and heading angle as well as the position coordinates of the bicycle. The output from the trajectory tracking controller is the desired lean angle and forward velocity. Furthermore, a PID controller is designed to follow the desired lean angle, while maintaining balance, by actuation of the handlebar. The proposed control strategy is evaluated in numerous simulations where a realistic nonlinear model of the bicycle is traversing a go-kart track and a short track with narrow curves. The Hausdorff distance and Mean Squared Error are considered as measurements of the performance. The results show that the bicycle successfully can track desired trajectories at varying velocities.

Keywords
Trajectory tracking;Computational modeling;Measurement uncertainty;Bicycles;Predictive models;Mathematical models;Trajectory
National Category
Computer Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-56391 (URN)10.1109/ITSC48978.2021.9564958 (DOI)000841862501130 ()2-s2.0-85118438817 (Scopus ID)978-1-7281-9142-3 (ISBN)
Conference
2021 IEEE International Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC), 19-22 Sept. 2021
Available from: 2021-11-09 Created: 2021-11-09 Last updated: 2023-01-25Bibliographically approved
4. A Comparative Analysis and Design of Controllers for Autonomous Bicycles
Open this publication in new window or tab >>A Comparative Analysis and Design of Controllers for Autonomous Bicycles
Show others...
2021 (English)In: 2021 EUROPEAN CONTROL CONFERENCE (ECC), - IEEE , 2021, p. 1570-1576Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

In this paper, we develop and compare the performance of different controllers for balancing an autonomous bicycle. The evaluation is carried out both in simulation, using two different models, and experimentally, on a bicycle instrumented with only lightweight components, and leaving the bicycle structure practically unchanged. Two PID controllers, a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), and a fuzzy controller are developed and evaluated in simulations where both noise and disturbances are induced in the models. The simulation shows that the LQR controller has the best performance in the simulation scenarios. Experimental results, on the other hand, show that the PID controllers provide better performance when balancing the instrumented bicycle.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
- IEEE, 2021
National Category
Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-58029 (URN)10.23919/ECC54610.2021.9655223 (DOI)000768455200229 ()2-s2.0-85124879689 (Scopus ID)
Conference
European Control Conference (ECC), Jun 29-Jul 02, 2021
Available from: 2022-04-13 Created: 2022-04-13 Last updated: 2023-01-25Bibliographically approved

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