Stability analysis of an articulated agri-robot under different central joint conditions

In hilly terrains, the exploitation of (semi-)autonomous systems able to travel nimbly and safely on different terrains and perform agricultural operations is still far from reality. In this perspective, the articulated 4-wheeled system, that shows an optimal steering capacity and the possibility to adapt to uneven terrains thanks to a passive degree of freedom on the central joint, is one of the most promising mobile wheeledrobot architectures. In thiswork, the instability of this robotic platform is evaluated in the two different conditions, i.e. phase I and phase II [1], and the effect of blocking the passive DoF of the central joint investigated in order to highlight possible stabilizing conditions and best manoeuvring practices for overturning avoidance. In order to do so, a quasi-static model of the robotic platform has been developed and implemented in a Matlab™ simulator thanks to which the different conditions have been studied. © Springer International 2016.