Abstract
The industrial robots are used in different areas, one of these areas is towing trailer’s. This research proposes the use of an omniwheel mobile robot, designed specifically for towing purposes, to enhance the towing capabilities. The study focuses on analyzing, controlling, and testing the dynamics of a trailer under the influence of external towing forces applied by an omni-wheel mobile robot. The study includes dynamical analysis, path planning, tracking control, prototype design, tuning of selected actuators, and simulation results of the proposed omniwheel tractor robot. The dynamic equations, the path planning algorithm, the path tracking methods, and the PID tuning of actuators are tested in a MATLAB Simulink Simscape environment using the designed 3D models. The simulation results are used to fine-tune the system parameters and minimize errors. Improved tuning of these parameters leads to better simulation outcomes. The final simulation results show that positional accuracy reaches 4.0 cm RMS precision (peak deviations: 7.6 cm) over a 6.63-meter course, and speed deviations remain below %4.3. Angular control maintains stability by capping errors at 0.117 rad (average: 0.008 rad) and limiting transient overshoot to %17.17 for aggressive maneuvers.
