Fully distributed control for task-space formation tracking of nonlinear heterogeneous robotic systems

Abstract

This paper studies task-space formation tracking problem of nonlinear heterogeneous robotic systems involving external disturbances, kinematic and dynamic uncertainties, where the cases with both single and multiple time-varying leaders are considered. To solve the aforementioned nonlinear control problem, several novel fully distributed control algorithms, in which no global information is employed, are developed for the nonlinear systems under directed communication topologies. Based on the proposed control algorithms, the control process is classified into two parts, namely the task-space formation tracking of master robots with a single leader and that of slave robots with multiple leaders. By invoking Barbalat’s lemma and input-to-state stability theory, the sufficient criteria for the asymptotic convergence of the task-space formation tracking errors are established. In addition, the obtained results are extended to formation-containment and consensus problems in similar nonlinear cases. Finally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate the validity and advantages of the main results.