First Steps Toward The Development Of Virtual Platform For Validation Of Autonomous Wheel Loader At Pulp-And-Paper Mill - Modelling, Control And Real-Time Simulation

The forestry industry all over the world is seeing the need for modernization of its machines toward autonomy. In this paper, we focus on a wheel loader that should operate autonomously in the yard of a pulp-and-paper mill, scooping wood chips from a pile of wood and dropping them into a hopper, which is linked to a conveyor that carries them inside the mill. The modelling of the wheel loader is elaborated first, while taking into account that it is composed of two systems: (i) the vehicle and (ii) the arm carrying the bucket. Notice that the former pertains to the category of articulated vehicles that steer using a different mechanism than the conventional Ackermann steering used in car-like vehicles. As for the latter, it is a 2DOF serial manipulator. The navigation is considered then. Finally, simulation results of the kinematics model are shown in Matlab/Simulink first, then dynamics and 3D animation are added using ROS2/Gazebo. Notice that this work is a first step toward the development of the digital twin of the wheel loader. Later, it will be used as the virtual platform for the validation of the autonomous wheel loader. Related: OPAL-RT Courseware