Observer-based fuzzy trajectory-tracking controller for wheeled mobile robots with kinematic disturbances

Abstract

Wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) have become essential in civilian and industrial applications. Making the WMR accomplish a trajectory-tracking task is essential for several purposes, including autonomous navigation and transportation. Nevertheless, the performance of the closed-loop system may be affected due to unavoidable disturbances. Hence, this manuscript develops a new observer-based fuzzy logic controller that accomplishes the trajectory-tracking task despite disturbances. The controller is split into two elements. The first one consists of an observer compensating for matched disturbances. The second control part employs the fuzzy logic theory to develop a new controller, making the WMR follow a desired reference. Via the Lyapunov formalism, it is theoretically demonstrated that all the tracking errors converge to zero asymptotically. The new control scheme is compared against a proportional integral derivative controller, a feedback methodology, and a finite-time controller that employs a sliding mode controller combined with the backstepping technique. A detailed numerical analysis proves that the novel controller exhibits the lowest tracking errors when the system is affected by kinematic disturbances and noisy measurements, demonstrating its efficiency in a real scenario.