Kinematic modeling and control of omnidirectional wheeled cellular conveyor

In this paper, kinematic modeling and control of an omnidirectional wheeled cellular conveyor are proposed. Two inverse kinematic models for the conveyor are compared: a Cell-Based – traditional one – and a Wheel-Based one proposed in this paper, Wheel kinematic constraints has been considered in the derivation of the inverse kinematic equations of motion for the proposed model. Cells/wheels selection methods based on the instantaneous position of the package is implemented. Each model provides the required velocities for the selected cells/wheels to control the package path. The system is simulated using the MATLAB© SIMULINK© platform to verify the accuracy of the derived equations. The simulations results are validated experimentally by using a small-scaled conveyor system. The Wheel-Based model shows better performance in terms of accuracy and is more energy efficient compared to the Cell-Based one.