2021/08/13 by Blake Buchanan, Tony Dear, Buchanan, Blake +8 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Engineering · #Chaotic Dynamics (nlin.CD) #Control and Dynamics of Mobile Robots #Dynamics and Control of Mechanical Systems #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Robotic Locomotion and Control #Robotic Path Planning Algorithms #Robotics (cs.RO)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2108.06442
openalex publication_date 2021/08/13 · openalex created_date 2022/07/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Robots often interact with the world via attached parts such as wheels,\njoints, or appendages. In many systems, these interactions, and the manner in\nwhich they lead to locomotion, can be understood using the machinery of\ngeometric mechanics, explaining how inputs in the shape space of a robot affect\nmotion in its configuration space and the configuration space of its\nenvironment. In this paper we consider an opposite type of locomotion, wherein\nrobots are influenced actively by interactions with an externally forced\nambient medium. We investigate two examples of externally actuated systems; one\nfor which locomotion is governed by a principal connection, and is usually\nconsidered to possess no drift dynamics, and another for which no such\nconnection exists, with drift inherent in its locomotion. For the driftless\nsystem, we develop geometric tools based on previously understood internally\nactuated versions of the system and demonstrate their use for motion planning\nunder external actuation. For the system possessing drift, we employ\nnonholonomic reduction to obtain a reduced representation of the system\ndynamics, illustrate geometric features conducive to studying locomotion, and\nderive strategies for external actuation.\n