Mathematical formulation of wheel-soil interaction, terramechanics, and real-time Kalman slip estimators for heavy wheeled and tracked ground robots.
Skid-steer and differential drive systems exhibit significant lateral slip during high-curvature maneuvers on unpaved gravel, mud, and sand. UGVRobot integrates Bekker terramechanics with real-time wheel torque sensors to dynamically estimate sinkage and shear displacement.
By fusing high-frequency wheel encoders, 6-DoF tactical IMU accelerations, and dual-antenna RTK-GNSS headings, the kinematic observer isolates true velocity vectors from track slippage, sustaining navigation accuracy under sustained wheel spin.