Geometric kinematic control of a spherical rolling robot

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Publication:2303758



Abstract: We give a geometric account of kinematic control of a spherical rolling robot controlled by two internal wheels just like the toy robot Sphero. Particularly, we introduce the notion of shape space and fibers to the system by exploiting its symmetry and the principal bundle structure of its configuration space; the shape space encodes the rotational angles of the wheels, whereas each fiber encodes the translational and rotational configurations of the robot for a particular shape. We show that the system is fiber controllable---meaning any translational and rotational configuration modulo shapes is reachable---as well as find exact expressions of the geometric phase or holonomy under some particular controls. We also solve an optimal control problem of the spherical robot, show that it is completely integrable, and find an explicit solution of the problem.


In the paper under review the kinematic control of a spherical rolling robot controlled by two internal wheels is considered from a geometrical point of view. An interesting interplay between geometry and mechanical notions like manifolds, symmetry, bundles, holonomic and nonholonomic mechanics, etc. are involved through which a contemporary study of the kinematical optimal control problem of the spherical robot is presented. It is shown that the optimal control problem is completely integrable, and its explicit solution is found.











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