Trajectory Tracking for Automated Guided Vehicle

Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate different control strategies on a differential drive vehicle. The vehicle should be able to drive in turns at high speed and slowly when it should park next to a charger. In both these cases, good precision in both orientation and distance to the path is important. A PID and an LQ controller have been implemented for this purpose. The two controllers were first implemented in a simulation environment. After implementing the controllers on the system itself, tests to evaluate the controllers were made to imitate real-life situations. This includes tests regarding driving with different speeds in different turns, tests with load distributions, and tests with stopping accuracy. The existing controller on the system was also tested and compared to the new controllers. After evaluating the controllers, it was stated that the existing controller was the most robust. It was not affected much by the load distribution compared to the new controllers. However, the LQ controller was slightly better in most cases, even though it was highly affected by the load distribution. The PID controller performed best regarding stopping accuracy but was the least robust controller by the three. Since the existing controller has a similar performance as the LQ controller but is more robust, the existing controller was chosen as the best one.