Kinematic modeling and simulation of wheeled pipe robot in elbow at planar motion stage

A study on the kinematics of wheeled pipe robot in elbow at planar motion stage is presented in this paper. Through analyzing the model of location and direction of robot, displacement functions of driving wheel centers corresponding to steering angle are derived. By taking the derivatives of displacement function and steering angle, the velocity of driving wheels and rotational speed of driving motors are calculated. On the basis of the calculated results, kinematic model of robot is set up. In order to identify the validity of the kinematic model, a couple of simulation experiments are carried out by using ADAMS software and comparisons both in theory and simulation are implemented. The comparisons suggest that theoretical values are in agreement with experimental results and the kinematic model is established effectively. This lays theoretical foundation for optimizing control method of robot entering into elbow by speed regulation technology.