Steering Control of an Autonomous Unicycle

TL;DR

This paper develops a control strategy for an autonomous unicycle, analyzing its dynamics and designing feedback controllers to enable lane changing and turning, demonstrated through numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel control approach for an autonomous unicycle using a compact nonlinear model and controllability analysis.

Findings

Successful lane changing and turning maneuvers in simulations

Compact nonlinear equations of motion derived using Appellian approach

Feedback controllers effectively stabilize the unicycle's motion

Abstract

The steering control of an autonomous unicycle is considered. The underlying dynamical model of a single rolling wheel is discussed regarding the steady state motions and their stability. The unicycle model is introduced as the simplest possible extension of the rolling wheel where the location of the center of gravity is controlled. With the help of the Appellian approach, a state space representation of the controlled nonholonomic system is built in a way that the most compact nonlinear equations of motions are constructed. Based on controllability analysis, feedback controllers are designed which successfully carry out lane changing and turning maneuvers. The behavior of the closed-loop system is demonstrated by numerical simulations.