PATH-TRACKING FOR ARTICULATED VEHICLES WITH OFF-AXLE HITCHING

A technique that complements path-tracking controller design procedure s based on exact linearization is proposed, The objective is to make t hese procedures applicable to vehicles whose kinematic model is not ne cessarily exactly linearizable (as a tractor-trailer with off-axle hit ching or a load-haul-dump mining vehicle). A key element of our approa ch is to control a nonexactly linearizable vehicle by associating to i t an auxiliary (ghost) vehicle whose model can indeed be exactly linea rized and whose behavior satisfies certain compatibility conditions. M ain features of this approach are illustrated by considering articulat ed vehicles with off-axle hitching (which are not exactly-linearizable ), and by focusing attention to a geometric path-tracking design proce dure recently developed by Sampei et al.