2609005322
  • Open Access
  • Article

Multi-Motor Cooperative Control of Tracked Locomotion Mechanisms

  • Baochuan Tan,   
  • Hui Wang *,   
  • Yue Pan,   
  • Tenglong Liu,   
  • Yunfu Luo,   
  • Ye Wang,   
  • Hao Li,   
  • Yujiang Lin,   
  • Lizi Liu

Received: 09 Jun 2026 | Revised: 21 Sep 2026 | Accepted: 30 Sep 2026 | Published: 13 Oct 2026

Abstract

In response to the issues of multi-motor drive desynchronization and trajectory deviation in tracked agricultural machinery operating in complex farmland environments due to sudden unilateral load changes, this paper takes the tracked locomotion mechanism as the research object and conducts an in-depth study on multi-motor coordinated control strategies. A double-closed-loop speed regulation system for permanent magnet DC motors and the dynamic model of an H-bridge reversible pulse-width modulation (PWM) converter were first established. On this basis, a deviation coupling control structure based on dynamic correlation was introduced, and a speed difference compensation algorithm between drive axes was developed to design a speed compensator capable of adaptively adjusting the system’s moment of inertia. For two typical operating conditions-dual-motor drive and four-motor drive-two coordinated control strategies were respectively proposed: full deviation coupling on both sides, and a hybrid approach combining inter-side deviation coupling with single-side master-slave following. A multi-motor coordinated control simulation model was then built in MATLAB/Simulink, through which the dynamic response characteristics of non-coupled control and deviation coupling control were comparatively analyzed under absolute synchronization and proportional synchronization conditions. The results show that under sudden unilateral load disturbances, the proposed deviation coupling control strategy can significantly suppress speed fluctuations among multiple axes. Compared with non-coupled control, the speed-difference oscillations are slightly reduced, with the speed difference decreasing from 0.00089 to 0.00087 m/s, corresponding to a reduction of approximately 2.25%. This method effectively improves the synchronization accuracy and disturbance rejection capability of multi-motor systems in tracked locomotion mechanisms, providing a solid theoretical basis for stable driving control of agricultural tracked transport machinery.

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Tan, B.; Wang, H.; Pan, Y.; Liu, T.; Luo, Y.; Wang, Y.; Li, H.; Lin, Y.; Liu, L. Multi-Motor Cooperative Control of Tracked Locomotion Mechanisms. Control and Robotics Express Communications 2026, 1 (1), 6.
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