Time-Optimal Velocity Tracking Control for Consensus Formation of Multiple Nonholonomic Mobile Robots

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Control Systems
• Artificial Intelligence

Background:

• Velocity tracking is crucial for multi-wheeled mobile robot systems to minimize operating time and improve energy efficiency.
• Achieving consensus in multi-robot systems under nonholonomic constraints presents significant challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel switched-system approach for time-optimal velocity tracking in multi-wheeled mobile robot systems.
• To achieve desired velocity formation in the minimum possible time, irrespective of initial conditions.

Main Methods:

• Derivation of the equation of motion to introduce motor extremal conditions for time-optimal trajectories.
• Utilization of a general consensus formation algorithm to achieve desired velocity formation.
• Application of the Pontryagin Maximum Principle to derive a new switching formation matrix of weights.

Main Results:

• The novel switching matrix guarantees that at least one motor reaches its extremal value, enabling time-optimal velocity formation.
• Numerical simulations confirm the effectiveness of the proposed switched system across various network sizes and topologies.
• Significant reduction in consensus formation time was observed, demonstrating the algorithm's efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The proposed switched-system approach effectively achieves time-optimal velocity tracking for multi-wheeled mobile robots.
• The method offers substantial improvements in consensus formation speed and is adaptable to different system configurations.
• This research provides a promising foundation for enhancing the performance of multi-robot systems.