A contribution to the development of a special-purpose vehicle for handicapped persons

This thesis discusses the mathematical modeling of wheeled locomotion systems. More precisely, the kinematics and the dynamics of a Mecanum wheeled vehicle are studied. Based on principles of the nonholonomic mechanics, the LAGRANGE’s equation with multipliers is used to introduce a precise dynamic model, which can model all possible motion trajectories for the discussed system. The introduced dynamic model has been compared with the already used dynamic models to present its advantages. A 3D Virtual model for the four wheeled Mecanum vehicle is programmed using MATLAB®, SIMULINK® and the VIRTUAL REALITY TOOLBOX®, to present the motion in 3D environment. Finally, the motion of the human body, for both disabled and healthy persons during the propulsion of wheelchair with classical wheels, has been captured using special experimental setup and has been analyzed using ALASKA® and ERGO TOOL® software.