A kinematic simulator for motion planning of a mobile robot on a terrain

This paper deals with the problem of simulating the behaviour of a mobile robot moving on a terrain along a precomputed nominal path. The nominal path is supposed to be provided by a planner. The purpose of the simulator is to instantiate the nominal path into a complete trajectory, while verifying that a set of constraints is satissed all along the motion. The simulator is based on an iterative algorithm to compute conngurations for the robot at each time increment. Each iteration consists of two successive steps: (1) determination of a stable connguration and of the associated contact points on the ground and (2) determination of the motion of all joints by minimization of the sliding at the contact points.