Agricultural machine automatic navigation poses great challenge to the precise agricultural technology system nowadays. To this end, this paper proposes a novel steering assistance system (SAS) to assist drivers in the path-tracking. First, the driver steering model is investigated through the driver simulator tests. Combining the wheeled tractor kinematics model, a driver-vehicle model is developed. Then, a polytopic linear parameter-varying (LPV) system is adopted to describe the uncertainties, including time-varying driver model parameters and velocity, in the model, based on which an output-feedback robust controller is developed to ensure robust stability within the polytope space. Moreover, a regional pole placement method is adopted to improve the transient performance of the system. Finally, driver-in-the-loop and field tests conducted to value the controller. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed method to improve the path-tracking performance for the agricultural machine navigation, while reducing the physical and mental workload of drivers. This control method is expected to be a paradigm for the precise navigation system of the agricultural machinery.
Keywords: Agricultural machinery; an output-feedback robust controller; automatic navigation; driver-vehicle model; path tracking.