Robust neural network–based tracking control and stabilization of a wheeled mobile robot with input saturation

Abstract

Summary This paper presents a robust neural network–based control scheme to deal with the problem of tracking and stabilization simultaneously for a wheeled mobile robot subject to parametric uncertainties, external disturbances, and input saturation. At first, a new error‐state transformation scheme is designed by introducing some auxiliary variables as an additional virtual control signals to reduce the adverse effect caused by the underactuation. These variables can change their structures for different desired trajectories to be tracked. Then, a robust control law is proposed combining with a kinematic controller and a dynamic controller, while a three‐layer neural network system is applied to approximate model uncertainties. Stability analysis via the Lyapunov theory shows that the proposed controller can make tracking errors converge to bounded neighborhoods of the origin. Finally, some simulation results are illustrated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.