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.