Terrain Classification Based On Slip Characteristics Of Mobile Robot

Because of the diversity and complexity of outdoor terrain, the traction andstability of mobile robot are affected most of the time. So terrain classification isnecessary. In this paper, a method is introduced based on the terrain slipcharacteristics to classify the terrains that the mobile robot moves on. Aexperimental platform is designed to test the performance of this method.Firstly, Magic Formula is used to be the tire-terrain interaction model whichis improved by Pacejka in1996.This model is proved that it has very goo dpracticability in tire dynamics field. Based on the relationship between tractionand slip ratio, we design the experiment. Then we use the DSP TMS320F2812ascore processing unit. At the same time two encoders are used to measure slipratio of robot. The traction force can be abtained by the S force sensor. Weprogram for the system and use the C language to finish the software. Last butnot least, we process the data which are got by different experiments on differentterrains with first-order lag filter. After we analyse the data which is abtainedfrom experiments, the terrain features are extracted. Terrain classification iscome true.In the end, we choose six terrains to do experiments, including grass, sand,rubber, floor tile, cement and glass. According to the experimental process, weget the relationship between traction and slip ratio on these terrains. We choosethe peak value and steady-state value of the traction as the features. So the sixterrains are classified successfully based on these features.