The multi‐steering<i>N</i>‐trailer system: A case study of goursat normal forms and prolongations

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, wheeled mobile robots towing trailers are used as examples of systems which can be converted into extended Goursat normal form. For some configurations of this class of systems, a prolongation of the Pfaffian system is necessary before the Goursat form can be achieved. The advantage of the Goursat form is that once the kinetic constraints are in this normal form, the point‐to‐point path planning problem can be solved in a straightforward way.