Adaptive control of nonholonomic robotic systems

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of controlling the motion of nonholonomic robotic systems in the presence of uncertainty regarding the system model and state, and presents a class of adaptive controllers as a solution to this problem. The proposed control strategies provide simple and robust solutions to a number of important nonholonomic system control problems, including stabilization to an equilibrium manifold, motion control to an equilibrium point via trajectory tracking, and stabilization to an equilibrium point. All of the schemes are computationally efficient, are implementable without knowledge of the system dynamic model, and ensure uniform boundedness of all signals and accurate motion control; furthermore, most of the controllers can be implemented without rate measurements. The efficacy of the proposed approach is illustrated through extensive computer simulations with nonholonomic robotic systems arising from explicit constraints on the system kinematics and from symmetries of the system dynamics. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.