A Coordinated Approach for Enhancing Handling Stability and Ride Comfort of Wheel-Legged Vehicles

This paper presents StaRide, a novel coordinated control framework for wheel-legged vehicles that simultaneously addresses handling stability and ride comfort challenges. The proposed approach integrates three key components: (1) a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) scheme enhanced with roll-steering dynamics for trajectory optimization, (2) an linear quadratic regulator (LQR)-based active suspension system utilizing leg mechanisms as virtual dampers, and (3) an adaptive impedance controller with behavior-dependent stiffness adjustment. The framework demonstrates significant improvements over conventional methods through extensive experimental validation, achieving 42% higher stable steering speeds (4.8 m/s vs 3.38 m/s), 46% pitch angle reduction on obstacles, and 39% lower vibration RMS on rough terrain. Real-time performance is maintained with 100Hz NMPC and 500Hz LQR execution rates. Results show particular effectiveness in preventing rollover during aggressive maneuvers while ensuring comfort during normal operation, establishing a new paradigm for wheel-legged vehicle control that successfully bridges the stability-comfort trade-off. The system's generalizability suggests potential applications in other hybrid locomotion platforms.