Trajectory Planning of Planar Tracked Vehicles

This paperaddressesthe problemof motionplanning of trackedvehicles. It is shownthat the force equilibrium perpendicularto the tracks introduces a non-integrable state dependentequality constraint, makingthe path planning problem nonholonomic. A method is then presentedfor computingthe nominaldriving track forces for motionsalonga specified path at desired speeds. It consists of selecting the angular speedsalongthe path that satisfy vehicle dynamicsand the non-integrable constraint. The computationof the angular speeds is formulatedas a parameteroptimization, minimizingthe violation of the equality constraint. The methodis demonstrated for motionsalonga circular path.