Funnel-Based Asymptotic Control of Leader–Follower Nonholonomic Robots Subject to Formation Constraints

Abstract

This article studies the control of a leader–follower pair of nonholonomic systems in the presence of formation constraints such as communication, feasibility, and performance constraints. In such a constrained configuration, communication constraints require maintaining limited-range connectivity, feasibility constraints on bearing angles are meant to avoid singularity in the control, and performance constraints include collision avoidance and prespecified transient behavior. Different from proposed solutions based on approximation-based prescribed performance or barrier Lyapunov techniques, this article provides an asymptotic result via a properly designed funnel technique. Stability analysis is provided, and a comparative study with the state of the art illustrates the benefits of the proposed method.