Leaderless Nonlinear Formation Control of Nonholonomic Robots Without Velocity Measurements

Abstract

This letter presents a distributed nonlinear control approach for the formation of nonholonomic mobile robots aimed at acquiring a desired geometric pattern in the plane without requiring velocity measurements. The control law provides the wheel torques and affects both the linear and angular acceleration of the mobile robot. The proposed control strategy facilitates formation maintenance through a dynamic control design incorporating a consensus structure. Utilizing local interactions, the control law is designed to ensure asymptotic convergence of consensus errors towards zero. The design of a position error enables mobile robots to attain the desired formation, defined in terms of distances from a formation center.