Kinematic path-following control of a mobile robot under bounded angular velocity error

This paper proposes a robust path-following control method of a kinematic mobile robot system subject to bounded angular velocity error. The angular velocity error usually arises from imperfect performance of the dynamic control system. Given a kinematic model of the mobile robot system with bounded angular velocity error, we present a stable and robust path-following controller which is based on the sliding mode control technique and prove that the path-following errors (the lateral distance and orientation error) are ultimately bounded. In addition, the safety margin of the lateral distance error is defined, which is useful for higher-level path-planning tasks. The feasibility of the proposed controller has been demonstrated through simulation tests.