On the problem of driving a car from a ditch (Q1290676)

This is an application of the (modified) velocity-gradient method and the swinging control to the problem of driving a car out of a ditch and under constrained control (limited power, limited force of friction of the wheels against the surface). The control problem is approached in terms of the system's self-energy and a swinging-control algorithm in finite form is proposed. In the case of limited friction force owing to slippage of the driving wheels, which becomes critical when moving on a slippery or granular soil, a direct compensation of the gravity force to get out of the ditch is introduced. Some computer simulation experiments illustrate the obtained results.