Time-varying feedback control for nonholonomic mobile robots forming group formations

Abstract

Presents an approach to control for multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots of the Hilare-type to form group formations. To control the formation, each robot has its own coordinate system and it controls its relative positions to its neighboring robots. Particularly, it has a vector called a formation vector, and the formation is controllable by the vectors. Since the robots have nonholonomic constraints, it is not possible for them to directly move in omni-directions, which means that such nonholonomic vehicles cannot be asymptotically stabilized by smooth static-state feedback control laws. We introduce a smooth time-varying feedback control law whose asymptotic stability is guaranteed in a mathematical framework, averaging theory. The validity of this law is verified by computer simulations.