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Smart Agriculture ›› 2026, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (1): 213-225.doi: 10.12133/j.smartag.SA202408003

• Intelligent Equipment and Systems • Previous Articles    

Obstacle Avoidance Control Method of Electric Skid-Steering Chassis Based on Fuzzy Logic Control

LI Lei1,2(), SHE Xiaoming1,2(), TANG Xinglong1,2, ZHANG Tao1,2, DONG Jiwei1,2, GU Yuchuan1,2, ZHOU Xiaohui1,2, FENG Wei1,2, YANG Qinghui1,2   

  1. 1. Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Machinery Research, Chongqing 401329, China
    2. Southwest Mountain Smart Agricultural Key Laboratory, (Co-construction by the Ministry and Province), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Chongqing 401329, China
  • Received:2024-08-06 Online:2026-01-30
  • Foundation items:Chongqing Municipal Fiscal Science and Technology Innovation(cqaas2023sjczsy006); Chongqing Municipal Technology Innovation and Application Development Special Project(CSTB2023TIAD-GPX0037); Chongqing Municipal Scientific Research Institutions Performance Incentive Guidance Special Project(cstc2022jxjl80008)
  • About author:

    LI Lei, E-mail:

  • corresponding author:
    SHE Xiaoming, E-mail:

Abstract:

[Objective] Trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance control are important components of autonomous driving chassis, but most current studies treat these two issues as two independent tasks, which will cause the chassis to stop trajectory tracking when facing an obstacle, and then implement trajectory tracking again after completing obstacle avoidance. If the distance from the reference path after obstacle avoidance is too far, the subsequent tracking performance will be affected. There are also some studies on trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance at the same time, but these studies are either not smooth enough and prone to chatter, or the control system is too complex. Therefore, a simple algorithm is proposed that can simultaneously implement trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance control of the chassis in this research. [Methods] First, the kinematic model and kinematic error model of the chassis were designed. Since skid-steering was adopted, the kinematic model of the chassis was simplified to a two-wheel differential rotation robot model when designing the mathematical model. Secondly, the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy controller of the chassis was designed. Since the error model of the chassis was designed in advance, the T-S fuzzy model of the chassis could be designed. Based on the T-S model, a T-S fuzzy controller was designed using the parallel distributed compensation (PDC) algorithm. The linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller was used as the state feedback controller of each fuzzy subsystem in the T-S fuzzy controller to form a global T-S fuzzy controller, which could realize the trajectory tracking function of the chassis when there were no obstacles. Secondly, the obstacle avoidance controller of the chassis was designed. A new LQRobs controller was designed in the global open-loop system to generate the reference trajectory to avoid obstacles. When the system detects an obstacle in the environment, the LQRobs controller starts working, and generates a new path by judging the distance between the obstacle and the chassis, so that the chassis could avoid the obstacle. When the chassis bypassed the obstacle, the LQRobs controller stopped working. In order to better realize the obstacle avoidance function, a fuzzy controller was designed to adjust the gain matrices Q and R of the LQRobs controller in real time. Then, in order to realize trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance controlled at the same time, a fuzzy fusion controller was designed to combine the two controllers to form the final chassis input, and the Mamdani fuzzy controller was selected to achieve it. Finally, the method was simulated and experimental tested. The simulation test used joint simulation test used MATLAB-Simulink and the experiments based on the self-developed electric multi-functional chassis were conducted. [Results and Discussions] The simulation results showed that when there were no obstacles, the control method could achieve stable trajectory tracking in the reference path composed of straight lines and curves. When there were obstacles, the vehicle could avoid them smoothly and quickly converge to the reference trajectory. When facing obstacles, the designed fuzzy logic LQRobs controller could adaptively change the controller gain matrix according to the vehicle's speed and the distance between the current obstacles to achieve rapid convergence. The experimental results showed that when there were no obstacles, the chassis could use the T-S fuzzy controller to achieve stable tracking of the reference trajectory, and the average errors in the lateral and longitudinal directions of the entire tracking process were 0.041 and 0.052 m, respectively. When facing obstacles, the T-S fuzzy controller and the LQRobs controller realized the obstacle avoidance and tracking control of the chassis through joint control. The fuzzy controller was used to adjust the gain matrix of the LQRobs controller in real time, and the tracking error was reduced by 33.9% compared with the controller with a fixed gain matrix. [Conclusions] The control system can simultaneously realize the trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance control of the chassis, can quickly converge the tracking error to zero, and achieve smooth obstacle avoidance control. Although the control method proposed is simple and efficient, and the tracking and obstacle avoidance effects are significantly improved, the control method can only handle static obstacles on the reference path at present, and subsequent research will focus on dynamic obstacles.

Key words: skid steering, trajectory tracking, obstacle avoidance control, LQR, fuzzy logic control

CLC Number: