A Numerical Simulation of a Semi-Autonomous Wheelchair: An Approach Based on the Initial Misalignment of Castor Wheels

This work aims to describe a dynamic simulation model of a wheelchair subjected to external disturbances arising from the misalignment of the castor wheels with the direction of movement. It is known that when starting its trajectory, the wheelchair may have initial conditions that cause disturbances to its movement. Of these initial conditions, the one that causes the most prominent effect is the misalignment of the castor wheels, as it causes a high resistant torque on one side of the vehicle, generating a situation of momentary instability of the trajectory, causing an error that propagates throughout the movement. subsequent. Therefore, this work proposes to model this effect through the kinematic determination of the front wheels' steering angle and use of the MFeval® solver, based on Pacejka's formula, to determine the lateral forces.