Intelligent Control and Automation, 2013, 4, 166-179

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ica.2013.42021 Published Online May 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ica)

Modeling and Adaptive Control of an

Omni-Mecanum-Wheeled Robot
Lih-Chang Lin, Hao-Yin Shih
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Chinese Taipei
Email: lclin@mail.nchu.edu.tw

Received December 14, 2012; revised February 6, 2013; accepted February 13, 2013

Copyright 2013 Lih-Chang Lin, Hao-Yin Shih. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT
The complete dynamics model of a four-Mecanum-wheeled robot considering mass eccentricity and friction uncertainty
is derived using the Lagranges equation. Then based on the dynamics model, a nonlinear stable adaptive control law is
derived using the backstepping method via Lyapunov stability theory. In order to compensate for the model uncertainty,
a nonlinear damping term is included in the control law, and the parameter update law with -modification is considered
for the uncertainty estimation. Computer simulations are conducted to illustrate the suggested control approach.

Keywords: Mecanum-Wheeled Mobile Robot; Dynamics Model; Backstepping Adaptive Control; Lyapunov Stability

1. Introduction it has one redundant degree of freedom. Asama et al. [5]

In 1973, BengtIlon invented the Mecanum wheel (also
called Ilon wheel) when he was an engineer with the
Swedish company Mecanum A.B. [1,2]. The Mecanum
wheel is designed with passive rollers mounted around
the wheel circumference at an angle of 45 degrees to the
wheel plane, thus it allows for in place rotation with
small ground friction and low driving torque. Usually the
mobile robots using Mecanum wheels, such as an intel-
ligent wheelchair, a forklift, or the URANUS omni-di-
rectional robot, are designed with four wheels to provide
agile mobility in any direction without changing its ori-
entation. This omni-directional capability provides greater
flexibility in congested environments. Ould-Khessal [3]
applied it in a robot soccer team design.
Although the benefit of omni-directionality of a stan-
dard Mecanum wheel, it has an unfortunate side effect of
reducing the motor effective driving force through the
rollers by projecting a portion of the motor force into a
force perpendicular or at an angle to that produced by the
motor. Thus, it may be inefficient when the platform
travels in a straight line, especially when travels diago-
nally. Diegel et al. [4] proposed an improved Mecanum
wheel design with a twist mechanism for adjusting and
locking the angle of the passive rollers to best suit the
direction the platform is traveling in. Since a planar mo-
bile robot consisting of four Mecanum wheels has only
three degrees of freedom (DOF): two translational mo-
tions along X- and Y-axes, and one rotation about Z-axis,
proposed a transmission mechanism such that four wheels
can be driven by only three actuators, each of which
drives wheels to move the robot for a certain DOF, re-
spectively.
The most popular approach to the control of an omni-
directional robot considers the kinematic control relying
only on the kinematics model of the platform [e.g. 6,7].
The kinematic control neglects the dynamics effect and
thus lowers the effective moving speed that could be ob-
tained. Based on the Newtons second law, Tlale and de
Villiers [8] developed and verified a dynamic model for
the omni-directional robot with four Mecanum wheels
using the resolved force method. In their developed mo-
bile platform, each wheel was fitted with encoder for
measuring the wheel rotation/velocity, and 3D gyrometer
and accelerator are also installed in the platform for
measuring its orientation and translation motion. Vi-
boonchaicheep et al. [9] presented a position rectification
method including symptomatic and preventive rectifica-
tions during the position and orientation control. Their
control system is based on kinematics and joint-space
linear dynamics model. Recently, Han et al. [10], Park et
al. [11], and Tsai and Wu [12] proposed fuzzy control
systems for Mecanum wheeled robots based on kine-
matic model or joint-space dynamic model.
In this work, we will propose a more complete kine-
matics and dynamics modeling of an omni-directional
mobile robot with four Mecanum wheels considering

Copyright 2013 SciRes. ICA


both the friction and load eccentricity effects. After es-
tablishing the kinematics model, the 3-DOF dynamics
model in the Cartesian space is derived using the La-
granges equation, which can be used for arbitrary trans-
lational and rotational dynamic control. Then an adaptive
control is constructed using the backstepping method via
Lyapunov stability theory. The derived adaptive control-
ler with uncertainty compensator has excellent three-axis
arbitrary trajectory tracking performance, even the plat-
form is encountered a not small eccentricity uncertainty.
Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the
suggested control system performance. The suggested
nonlinear controller is more complex than traditional PID
control, however it could have more satisfactory and
faster arbitrary-trajectory tracking capability.
2. Kinematics and Dynamics Modeling of a
Mecanum-Wheeled Mobile Robot
As shown in Figure 1, a Swedish wheel consists of a
fixed standard wheel with passive rollers attached to the
wheel circumference. The Mecanum wheel is a type of
Swedish wheels with 45 , where is the angle
between the passive-roller rotation axis and the wheel
plane. Complete kinematics and dynamics modeling of
an omni-directional robot with four Mecanum wheels
will be considered in this section.
2.1. Kinematics of a Four-Wheeled Mecanum
Robot
Consider a Mecanum wheel mounted on a mobile robot
with local coordinate frame {R}: X RYR Z R , as shown in
Figure 1, where point A is its center and the other geo-
metric parameters are defined as follows. is the an-
gle of the vector GA , from the robot frame origin G to
the wheel center A, with respect to the X R axis, and
x R cos y R cos l cos
2 2 2 2
x R cos y R cos l cos
2 (1)
x R sin y R cos l cos
sin cos l cos xR y R
If no slipping occurs along the contact rollers axis, the
same velocity can also be computed from the wheels
sin cos l cos xR
Since the rotation matrix representing the orientation
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L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH 167
YR
y R
2
l
2
rollers axis
x R
A
l v r
G XR
Figure 1. Parameters of a mecanum wheel.
is the angle between the vector GA and the main wheel
axis. The distance from the geometric center G to the
wheel center A is l, and the main wheels radius is r. And
and SW are respectively the rotation speeds of the
main wheel and the passive roller contacted with the flat
floor.
Assume that the contact point between the Mecanum
wheel and the floor is an instantaneous rotation center,
that is, the contact is in a pure rolling condition without
slipping, then the corresponding velocity of the wheel
center A is r along the tangential direction as shown
in Figure 1. So the wheel center As velocity component
along the contact rollers axis is r cos .
Let the robots instantaneous translation velocity in
terms of local frame {R} be x R y R , and the rotation
T
velocity about Z R axis be . Then the wheel center
As velocity can also be computed by summing the
translational velocity vectors x R , y R , and the relative
velocity l due to the rotation velocity shown in Fig-
ure 1. Thus, the wheel center As velocity component
along the contact rollers axis can be expressed as fol-
lows (computed via the platforms velocity):
2 2 2
T
rotation speed . Hence, we have the following con-
straint equation for a Swedish wheel:
T
y R r cos (2)
of the inertia frame {I} with respect to the robot frame
ICA
168 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH

{R} can be expressed as R x R y R

T
can be computed as:
cos sin 0
R
RI sin cos 0 , R R RI I ,
0 0 1 T
where I xI y I is the robot velocity vector
where is the angle between axes X R and X I , and the in terms of the inertia frame {I}, Equation (2) can be
robots velocity vector in terms of the robot frame {R}, transformed to as follows [6]:

sin cos l cos R RI I r cos (3)

In the direction orthogonal to the contact rollers axis, of the passive contact roller, thus we have the following
the motion is not constrained because of the free rotation velocity relation:

x R sin y R sin l sin
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
r sin rsw sw
T
cos sin l sin x R y R r sin rsw sw 0

Thus, the above rolling condition can be transformed as:

cos sin l sin R RI I r sin rsw sw 0 (4)

Consider the omni-directional robot with four Mecanum shown in Table 1. From Equation (3), we have the
wheels shown in Figure 2. The angles i , i , and i of following four constraint equations for the centers of the
the mounted four Mecanum wheels, i 1, 2, 3, 4, are four Mecanum wheels:

sin 1 1 1 cos 1 1 1 l1 cos 1 1 r11 cos 1

sin 2 2 2 cos 2 2 2 l2 cos 2 2 R R r22 cos 2 (5)
sin 3 3 3 cos 3 3 3 l3 cos 3 3 I I
r33 cos 3

sin 4 4 4 cos 4 4 4 l4 cos 4 4 r44 cos 4

YR Assuming that each Mecanum wheel has equal radius

a and mounting distances, ri r , li l , i 1, 2,3, 4, and by
Wheel 2 Wheel 1
substituting the parameters in Table 1 into Equation (5),
- we can obtain the inverse kinematics equation as follows:

l l 1 2 2 lsin 4
2 2

b

2 2 2 2 lsin 4
l G l XR
2
3 2 r
2 2 2 2 lsin 4

4
2 2 2 2 lsin 4 (6)
YI Wheel 3 Wheel 4
cos sin 0 x I
sin cos 0 y I
0 0 1

O XI where tan 1 b a .
Figure 2. A four-Mecanum-wheeled robot. Define the Jacobian matrix as:

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 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH 169

Table 1. Parameters of the Mecanum wheels. The forward kinematics equation of the four-wheeled
Mecanum mobile robot can be obtained as follows:
Wheels i i i
1
1 tan 1 b a tan 1 b a 2 4 xI
2
2 tan 1 b a tan 1 b a 2 4
y
I 2 2 rJ
3
(8)

3 tan 1 b a tan 1 b a 2 4 4

1
4 2 tan 1 b a tan 1 b a 2 4 where J J T J J T is the pseudoinverse of J.

2 2 lsin 4
2 2 2.2. Dynamics of the Mecanum Robot

2 2 2 2 lsin 4 Consider the four-wheeled Mecanum mobile robot
J shown in Figure 3, where G is the geometric center with
2 2 2 2 lsin 4
position vector I rG xI yI in terms of the inertia
T

2 2 2 2 lsin 4 (7) frame {I}, and G is the mass center of the moving plat-
cos sin 0 form with relative position vector R rG G d1 d 2
T

sin cos 0
in terms of robot frame {R}. The velocity R vG of point
0 0 1
G, in terms of robot frame {R} can be expressed as

cos sin xI
xI cos y I sin xI sin y I cos
T
R
vG (9)
sin cos y I

where xI and y I are the velocity components of G frame {I}. Hence the velocity R vG of the mass center
along the X I - and YI - axes, respectively, and is the G in terms of robot frame {R} can be obtained as fol-
orientation angle of the platform relative to the reference lows:

R
vG' R vG k R R rG' G
(10)

x I cos y I sin d 2 i R x I sin y I cos d1 jR
The total kinetic energy T of the mobile robot includ- grangian L T V T can be obtained as below:
ing those of the platform and four Mecanum wheels can
be computed as below: YR Wheel 1
1
1 4 4

T mb vG'T vG' I b 2 mwi ri I i i2 (11)
2
Wheel 2
f2
2 i 1 i 1 f1
VG
XR
where mb is the mass of the platform, and mwi is the 2 Y 'R G
mass of the ith wheel, i 1, 2, 3, 4 ; I b is the moment of d1
d2
inertia of the platform about Z R axis ( parallel to Z R ) X 'R
4
through point G , and I i is the moment of inertia of G'
f3
the ith wheel about its main axis; is the rotational
YI
f4
speed of the platform, and i is the rotational speed of 3
Wheel 4

the ith wheel about its main axis; and r is the radius of
each Mecanum wheel. Since the mobile robot is assumed Wheel 3
moving in a plane, the total potential energy V 0 . As-
sume that the four Mecanum wheels are identical and O XI
thus let mwi mw , and I i I , i 1, 2,3, 4. After sub-
stituting Equation (2) and some computations, the La- Figure 3. Schematic of the Mecanum robot.

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170 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH

1 2 1

I b mb x I cos y I sin d 2 x I sin y I cos d1
2 2
L
2 2
1

mw x I cos sin y I sin cos 2lsin 4
2
2

2
x I cos sin y I sin cos 2lsin 4
2
x I cos sin y I sin cos 2lsin 4

x I cos sin y I sin cos 2lsin 4

2
(12)

1 1 2
I1 x I cos sin y I sin cos 2lsin 4
2 r2
1 1 2
I 2 x I cos sin y I sin cos 2lsin 4
2 r2
1 1 2
I 3 x I cos sin y I sin cos 2lsin 4
2 r2
1 1 2
I 4 x I cos sin y I sin cos 2lsin 4
2 r2

The dynamics model can then be derived using the the ith generalized force/torque. The generalized coordi-
Lagranges equations: nate vector of the mobile robot can be defined as:
q q1 q2 q3 xI y I . Refer to Figure 3,
T T
d L L
Fi , i 1, 2,3 (13) where fi is the contact friction force of the ith Me-
dt qi qi canum wheel with the floor, the generalized force/torque
where qi is the ith generalized coordinate, and Fi is Fi , i 1, 2,3 , can be derived as follows [13]:

4
i 4

F1 i r sgn i fi i r sgn i fi i (14)
i 1 xI i 1 x I

By Equation (6), we can obtain

1 1 1 1 1
cos sin ; 2 cos sin ; 3 cos sin ; 4 cos sin .
x I r x I r x I r x I r

Thus,

1 1
F1 1 r sgn 1 f1 cos sin 2 r sgn 2 f 2 cos sin
r r
(15)
1 1
3 r sgn 3 f3 cos sin 4 r sgn 4 f 4 cos sin
r r

Similarly,

4
i 1
F2 i r sgn i fi 1 r sgn 1 f1 sin cos
i 1 y I r
1 1
2 r sgn 2 f 2 sin cos 3 r sgn 3 f3 sin cos (16)
r r
1
4 r sgn 4 f 4 sin cos
r

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 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH 171

4
i 2
F3 i r sgn i fi 1 2 3 4 l sin 4

i 1 r (17)
sgn 1 f1 sgn 2 f 2 sgn 3 f3 sgn 4 f 4 2l sin 4

After some straightforward computations, the equa- I

tions of motion of the mobile robot can be expressed in m22 mb 4 mw 2 ; m12 m21 0;
r
matrix/vector form as:
m13 m31 mb d1 sin d 2 cos ;
1
M q q C q, q q B T Sf B T (18) m23 m32 mb d1 cos d 2 sin ;
r
where I
1 2 3 4 , f f1
T
f2 f3 f4 ,
T
m33 mb d12 d 22 I b 8 mw 2 l 2 sin 2 4 ;
r
S diag sgn 1 sgn 2 sgn 3 sgn 4 , 0 0 mb d1 cos d 2 sin

I C 0 0 mb d1 sin d 2 cos ;
M mij , m11 mb 4 mw 2 ; 0 0
33
r 0

cos sin sin cos 2l sin 4

cos sin sin cos 2l sin 4
B .
cos sin sin cos 2l sin 4

cos sin sin cos 2l sin 4

3. Stable Adaptive Control of a

xI sin 2 cos cos 2 sin

Mecanum-Wheeled Robot H m yI
cos 2 sin sin 2 cos ,
3.1. Modeling Uncertainty 0 xI sin
y I cos xI cos
y I sin

w m mb mb d 2 ,
T
In practice, the mass of the platform carrying payload, mb d1
and the contact friction forces may be varied, thus we can
model their uncertainty by letting mb m b mb , and D1 H m w m , D2 B T S f .
f f f , where m b and
3.2. Stable Adaptive Control of a
1
f m b + 4mw Mecanum-Wheeled Robot
4 (19)
T 3.2.1. Nominal Control Law Derivation
g urr ,1 urr ,2 urr ,3 urr ,4
In order to synthesize the adaptive control law, we can
are the nominal platform mass and friction vector, re- first neglect the uncertainty effect, i.e., let D1 D2 0
spectively. Here g is the gravitational constant, and in Equation (20), and consider the following nominal
urr ,i , i 1, 2, 3, 4 , are the nominal rolling friction coeffi- dynamics model:
cients of the four wheels. Substituting into Equation (18), 1 B T B T Sf
Mq (21)
the dynamics of the mobile robot considering uncertainty r
can be summarized as follows: Defining the state vector as:
T T
z z1T z2T q T q T
1 B T B T Sf D D
Mq (20)
1 2
r T
xI yI x I y I
where
the state equation of the nominal system can be written
as
diag m 4 m I , m 4 m I ,
M b w b w z1 z2
r2 r2

I 1 1 T (22)
z2 M r B B S f
T
I b 8l 2 sin 2 4 mw 2 ,
r

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172 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH

Based on the backstepping method, a stable nonlinear derivative of V2 , we have

nominal control law can be obtained as follows.
V2 e1T K1e1 e2T K 2 e2 e1T K1 e2 e1
First consider the z1 subsystem, z1 z2 . Let
1 (33)
z1 v1 (23) 1 B T Sf q e e
e2T K 2 M 1 B T M d 2 1
r
where v1 is a virtual input. Define the tracking error
vector as Thus, we can consider the nominal control law as

n rB B T B M
1
e1 z1 qd (24)
(34)
where qd t xI , d t , yI , d t , d t
T
is the desired 1 B T Sf e e e K 1 K e
qd M 2 2 1 2 1 1

trajectory vector for the platform. Differentiating Equa- and obtain

tion (24), we have
V2 e1T K1e1 e2T K 2 e2 e T K a e 2V2 0 (35)
e1 z1 qd v1 qd (25)
Since V2 t is negative definite, we know that the
Considering the Lyapunov function candidate equilibrium point e 0 is exponentially stable.
1 T
V1 e1 K1e1 (26)
2 3.2.2. Adaptive Control of a Mecanum-Wheeled
33 Robot with Uncertainty
where K1 R is symmetric and positive definite, and
Consider the Mecanum-wheeled robot dynamics model
differentiating Equation (26), we have
with uncertainty D1 , D2 :
1 1
V1 e1T K1e1 e1T K1e1 e1T K1e1 1 B T B T Sf D D
2 2 (27) Mq 1 2 (20)
r
e1 K1 v1 qd
T

Using the error vectors defined before in the nominal

Thus, we can choose control design,
v1 qd e1 (28) e1 z1 qd q qd
(36)
and obtain e2 z2 v1 q v1 q qd e1
V1 e1T K1e1 0 (29) the systems error dynamics can be obtained by direct
differentiating Equation (36) as below:
By Equation (29), we know that lim e1 t 0, that is,
t
the subsystem is asymptotically stable. 1
Further, the whole nonlinear system (22) is considered. e t , q, q q B T D1 D2 (37)
r
After introducing new error vector
where
e2 z2 v1 (30)
e2 e1
we can obtain t , q, q ,
M B Sf qd e2 e1
1 T
e1 z1 qd z2 qd v1 v1
e2 v1 qd e2 e1 0
q .
e2 z2 v1 z2 qd + e1 (31) 1
M
1 1 B T B T Sf q e e
M Consider the following Lyapunov function for adap-
d 2 1
r tive control design,
Then by considering the Lyapunov function candidate 1
Va V2 w Tm 1 w m (38)
as 2
1 1 1 where w m w m wm and is a symmetric and posi-
V2 V1 e2T K 2 e2 e1T K1e1 e2T K 2 e2
2 2 2 tive definite matrix. And taking the time derivative of
(32)
1 T Va , we have
e Kae
2 V 1 T
where K 2 R33 is symmetric and positive definite, Va 2
e t , q, q q r B D1 D2 (39)

K a diag K1 K 2 , e e1T
T
e , and taking the time
T
2 w T 1 w
m m

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 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH 173

By the definition of D2 in Equation (20), we know law as

that it is bounded, i.e., D2 2 , 2 0 . Since n d (40)
D1 H m wm is in linear parametrized form, we can in-
troduce a compensating term d and choose the control with

T
V2
q
e

d rB B T B 2 rB B T B

1 1
H m w m (41)
V2
q c1
e

where c1 0 . Substituting Equations (40) and (41) into Equation (39), we have

V 1 V 1
Va 2 t , q, q q B T n 2 q B T d D1 D2 w Tm 1w m
e r e r
V2
T

q
V e
2V2 w Tm 1w m 2 q 2 H w H w D (42)
e V2 m m m m 2

q c1
e
V2
T

q
V2 e D V2 q H w w T 1w
2V2 q 2 m m m
e V2 2
e m

q c 1
e

Choose the parameter adaptation law as

V
T

w m w m 2 q H m w m wm0 (43)
e

where 0, and wm0 is the best guess for the unknown parameter vector wm . Since

V2
T
V2
T
V2
V2

q


q q c1
e V e e
q 2 D 2 (q) D
e V2 2
e 2 V2 2
V2
q c1 q c1 q c1
e e e
V2 V2
q q
e V2 V2 e
2 q 2 q c1 2c1 2 c1
V2 e e V2
q c1 q c1
e e

we have Since V2 e satisfies the following inequality equa-

2
tion [14],
w
Va 2V2 m d (44) e1 e V2 e e2 e (46)
2
1
where where we can choose e1 e e2 e e T K a e , thus
2
2
wm wm0 e1 and e2 are class- K function, and
d c1 (45) V2 e e1 e , we can obtain
2

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174 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH

w
2 The parameters of the mobile robot are selected as fol-
Va 2 e1 e m d (47) lows: mb = 12 kg, I = 0.5 kgm2, Iw = 4.0378 104
2 kgm2, a = 0.2 m, b = 0.3 m, l = 0.25 m, mw = 0.313 kg, r
Let 2 e1 e d 0 , then e1 e d 2 , and thus = 0.0508 m, urr 0.25, and g 9.8 m/s 2 . And the ada-
w m
2
ptive controller parameters are chosen as:
e 1
d 2 be . Similarly, while d 0,
K1 diag 9000 9000 100 ,
e1
2
2d
we have w m bw . Hence, if e be or K 2 diag 2000 1800 3.25 ,

w m bw , then 0.002, c1 0.0001,

Va 0 0.002 I , w 0 0 0 0 ,
T
(48)
Since and
1 T
Va
1
e K a e w Tm 1 w m diag 8 2 4.75 .
2 2 (49) In the simulation, we consider the platform having ec-
1
e 2 e max 1 w m
2

2
centricity with d1 d 2 0.02 m, and the mass has varia-
tion mb 3 kg. The wheels contact frictions are as-
by substituting e be and w m bw into the right sumed with uncertainty
side of Equation (49), we can define
f 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 N .
T

d d max
Vr e 2 e11

1

(50) The simulation results are shown in Figure 4. Figure

2 4(a) depicts the tracking performance of the X I - and
and thus,
e1 e Va max Va 0 , Vr
Hence, we have
e e11 max Va 0 ,Vr
Define
Be e R 6 : e e11 max Va 0 , Vr
and we thus have e t Be , t .
By properly choosing the parameters: 2 , c1 , ,
, K1 , and K 2 , constants be and bw can be made suf-
ficiently small, and the norm of the tracking error e is
bounded. And thus the adaptive control system is stable.
4. Results and Discussion
In this section, two computer simulation examples are
given to illustrate the performance of the proposed adap-
tive control for the Mecanum-wheeled mobile robot.
The first considers a pure translation along a rectangu-
lar desired trajectory in the X I YI plane with fixed
orientation d t 0. The platforms geometric center
is planned to move forward from the origin of the inertia
frame along X I axis 1 m, then leftward along YI axis
1 m, and then backward along X I axis 1m, and finally
move rightward along YI axis 1 m and return to the
origin. The desired xI , d t and yI , d t are obtained
using the cubic spline method [15] and shown as the
dashed lines in Figure 4(a).
YI -axes translation, and the orientation variation, and
Figure 4(b) shows their tracking errors. We know that
the tracking errors along the X I - and YI -axes are
within 0.0063 - 0.0056 m and 0.0065 - 0.0062 m, re-
spectively, and the orientation error is within 0.57-
(51) 0.64. The corresponding control torques of the four
Mecanum wheels are shown in Figure 4(c). The adapta-
tion processes of the uncertainty compensation terms
(52) parameters vector w m t are shown in Figure 4(d).
And the geometric centers moving trajectory in the
X I YI plane is shown in Figure 4(e).
Considering the same uncertainties as the first case, a
second simulation is considered to show the pure rota-
tional control performance. The adaptive control pa-
rameters are selected as below:
0.002, c1 0.0001,
K1 diag 9000 9000 2000 ,
K 2 diag 2000 900 1000 ,
diag 0.0001 0.03 0.03 , w 0 0,
and
diag 5 0.001 0.03 .
Simulation results of the pure rotation case are shown
in Figure 5. Figure 5(a) depicts the tracking perform-
ances of the X I - and YI -axes translation, and the ori-
entation , and Figure 5(b) shows their tracking errors.
We know that the undesired displacement along the X I -

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176 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH

Figure 4. Simulation results of the pure translational case. (a) x I , y I , and responses; (b) Tracking errors; (c) Control
torques, 1 ~ 4 N m ; (d) Compensator parameters adaptation w m t ; (e) Tracking results of geometric center,
x t , y t m .
I I

and YI -axes can be kept within 0.0257 - 0.0235 m and
0.0143 - 0.0270 m, respectively, and the orientation
error is within 0.0574 - 0.0362 rad. The correspond-
ing control torques of the four Mecanum wheels are
shown in Figure 5(c). The adaptation processes of the
uncertainty compensation terms parameters vector w m t
are shown in Figure 5(d). And the geometric centers
displacement in X I YI plane is shown in Figure 5(e).
5. Conclusions
In this paper, Cartesian-space dynamics modeling and
stable adaptive control for a four-Mecanum-wheeled
robot are considered. Based on the derived 3-DOF dy-
namics model considering the platform mass variation,
eccentricity, and friction uncertainty, a nonlinear stable
adaptive control law is derived using the backstepping
method via Lyapunov stability theory. A nonlinear
damping term is included in the control law to compen-
sate for the estimation error, and the parameters adapta-
tion law with - modification is considered for the un-
certainty estimation. Computer simulations are pre-
sented to illustrate the control system performance. Real

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178 L.-C. LIN, H.-Y. SHIH

Figure 5. Simulation results of the pure rotational case. (a) x I , y I , and responses; (b) Tracking errors, (c) Control
torques, 1 ~ 4 N m ; (d) Compensator parameters adaptation w m t ; (e) Displacement of geometric center
x t , y t m .
I I

implementation study using the suggested control law
with microcontroller deserves future consideration.
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