A Fuzzy PID Speed Controller for Mobile Robot: Application in Scientific Investigation

Speed control is the primary problem to be solved for mobile robots. In order to make the scientific investigation mobile robot track the desired speed smoothly, we design a fuzzy adaptive PID controller to adjust the robot throttle action. The primary purpose of the speed controller is to solve the nonlinear, time-varying and response lag problems existing in the fuel-powered robots control process. Depending on adaptively adjusting the PID parameters, an effective mapping relationship between the robot throttle and speed is formed, thereby achieving stable robot speed control. Finally, the excellent effect of our adaptive fuzzy PID controller is verified through physical experiments. The experimental results show that the speed controller designed can reduce oscillation and improve speed accuracy and robustness. Moreover, the robot has been applied in actual scientific investigation application on Tibet Plateau.