Funnel-Based Asymptotic Control of Leader–Follower Nonholonomic Robots Subject to Formation Constraints

Abstract

This work studies control of a leader-follower pair of nonholonomic systems in the presence of formation constraints like communication, feasibility and performance constraints. In such constrained configuration, communication constraints require to maintain limited-range connectivity, feasibility constraints on bearing angles are meant to avoid singularity in the control, and performance constraints include collision avoidance and pre-specified transient behaviour. Different from proposed solutions based on approximation-based prescribed performance or barrier Lyapunov techniques, this work provides an asymptotic result via a properly designed funnel technique. Stability analysis is provided and a comparative study with the state of the art illustrates the benefits of the proposed method.