Rollover avoidance using a stability margin for a tracked vehicle with sub-tracks

Rollover avoidance for tracked vehicles with sub-tracks is a difficult, but necessary task. In this study, rollover avoidance, specifically in the direction of the roll, is performed using a normalized energy stability margin which requires the estimation of a robot's tumble axis. However, a precise estimation of the tumble axis is very difficult because it requires accurate distributed contact information about the robot's main and sub-tracks. In this study, the authors propose a method for rollover avoidance that does not require such accurate contact information. The validity of the stability margin is shown, and it is used to realize rollover avoidance in the direction of the roll.