Article: Autonomous leader-follower formation control of non-holonomic wheeled mobile robots by incremental path planning and sliding mode augmented tracking control Journal: International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications (IJSCC) 2019 Vol.10 No.3 pp.191 - 217 Abstract: This paper presents a novel robust and autonomous formation control scheme for wheeled mobile robots in the leader-follower formation control framework considering their non-holonomic constraints. In the proposed formation control scheme, the leader robot of the group plans its path of navigation autonomously in a cluttered environment by employing incremental path planning by modified artificial potential field. Then, the follower robots in the group plan their path in order to follow the leader robot by maintaining a particular formation using the separation-bearing (l − <i>Ψ</i>) control. Then the formation control problem has been transformed into a trajectory tracking control problem. The kinematic control component of the tracking controller provides the necessary velocity input for eliminating the non-holonomic constraints, whereas, the sliding mode augmented robust trajectory tracking control component minimises the effects of nonlinearities, model uncertainties, parameter variations, and disturbances. The effectiveness of the proposed control law has been established by simulation studies. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Autonomous leader-follower formation control of non-holonomic wheeled mobile robots by incremental path planning and sliding mode augmented tracking control

Authors: Kishorekumar H. Kowdiki; Ranjit Kumar Barai; Samar Bhattacharya

Addresses: Department of Electrical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, West Bengal, India ' Department of Electrical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, West Bengal, India ' Department of Electrical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, West Bengal, India

Abstract: This paper presents a novel robust and autonomous formation control scheme for wheeled mobile robots in the leader-follower formation control framework considering their non-holonomic constraints. In the proposed formation control scheme, the leader robot of the group plans its path of navigation autonomously in a cluttered environment by employing incremental path planning by modified artificial potential field. Then, the follower robots in the group plan their path in order to follow the leader robot by maintaining a particular formation using the separation-bearing (l − Ψ) control. Then the formation control problem has been transformed into a trajectory tracking control problem. The kinematic control component of the tracking controller provides the necessary velocity input for eliminating the non-holonomic constraints, whereas, the sliding mode augmented robust trajectory tracking control component minimises the effects of nonlinearities, model uncertainties, parameter variations, and disturbances. The effectiveness of the proposed control law has been established by simulation studies.

Keywords: artificial potential field; autonomous navigation; formation control; leader-follower; trajectory tracking; kinematic control; sliding mode control.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCC.2019.100530

International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications, 2019 Vol.10 No.3, pp.191 - 217

Received: 07 Jun 2017
Accepted: 07 Sep 2018
Published online: 29 Jun 2019 *

Title: Autonomous leader-follower formation control of non-holonomic wheeled mobile robots by incremental path planning and sliding mode augmented tracking control

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