Precise Curve Motion Control of a Segway by Compensating the Centrifugal Force with SEAs

In this paper, the slope of the footplate is adjusted to compensate for the centrifugal force with a series elastic actuator (SEA) attached to the Segway’s body to improve the cornering characteristics during turning. To ensure Segway’s driving safety in the curvature motion, it is necessary to compensate for the centrifugal force by tilting the footplate to generate inward force by the reaction force from the footplate. When the footplate is tilted under the control of SEA, the vertical load on both wheels has been changed accordingly. The frictional force of the wheel has been changed by the change of the vertical force, which requires adjustment of driving torque to keep the curvature trajectory. That is, the driving torque has been controlled to keep the curvature trajectory considering the frictional force caused by the turning motion. Four SEAs are attached to the footplate to control the slope of the footplate and the real curvature motion has been demonstrated to verify the effects of SEAs in the high-speed curvature motion.