Rollover Control of AGV Combined with Differential Drive, Active Steering, and Centroid Adjustment under Slope Driving Condition

The centroid of the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) equipped with the load platform is high, and it is prone to rollover when driving sideways on a slope. To solve this problem, this study proposes an anti-rollover cooperative control strategy combining differential drive, active steering, and load platform. According to the characteristics of AGV, the dynamic coupling of each subsystem is analyzed. The expected yaw stability control torque is calculated based on optimal control. The active steering controller is designed based on the model predictive control. The expected roll control torque is solved by the proposed sliding mode variable structure control method to dynamically adjust the centroid. Evaluation of the overall control system is accomplished by simulations and experiments under different load conditions of the AGV in the lateral driving condition on a slope. Compared with the PI controller, the sideslip angle decreases by 14.62% and 18.24%, and the roll angle decreases by 12.38% and 14.93% under high and low load conditions, respectively. The error between the experimental and simulation results is within 7.8%. It shows that the proposed cooperative control strategy can improve the stability of AGV under different load conditions and reduce the rollover probability when the AGV is driving sideways on a slope. This research provides a theoretical and experimental basis for active safety control of AGVs.