The Art of Navigation: Pure Pursuit Controller Strategies for Four-Wheeled  Mobile Robots

Mohammed R. Hashim Al-Dahhan ^*1, Mahmood Abdulrazzaq Alsaadi ² , Ruqayah R. Al-Dahhan ¹, Salah A. Aliesawi ¹

¹College of Computer Science and Information Technology; University of Anbar, Ramadi, Anbar, Iraq

²Computer Science Department, Al-Maarif University Collage, Ramadi, Anbar, Iraq

Emails: mohammed.rabeea@uoanbar.edu.iq ; alsaadi.m@uoa.edu.iq; ruqayah85@uoanbar.edu.iq; salah_eng1996@uoanbar.edu.iq

*Corresponding Author: mohammed.rabeea@uoanbar.edu.iq

Abstract

The Pure Pursuit Algorithm (PPA) is used in this paper to explain how a car with four wheels moves. The MATLAB environment has extensive simulation capabilities that can accurately represent complex robotic behaviors. It was these that were deployed for an extended analysis of the robot’s operational dynamics. In the MATLAB/Simulink framework, waypoints obtained from different algorithms define robot trajectory. An odometer sensor helped to localize the robot thus giving accurate real-time information on its position. After critically evaluating several performance indices, it became clear just how well this control algorithm worked because it smoothly moved the robot from its initial state to its target with almost no oscillations at all. The findings of the simulation confirmed that if an appropriate lookahead distance is selected then the robot can effectively track waypoints and maintain optimal path along a trajectory up until reaching the target point at last

Keywords: quad-wheel mobile robot; Pure Pursuit Algorithm (PPA); lookahead distance