This paper considers the distributed formation control of multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots with a leader. Distributed tracking control laws are proposed with the aid of results of cascade systems such that the centroid of the states of a group of mobile robot exponentially tracks the leader. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

Transportation of large objects or their manipulation in hazardous environments are tasks where the utilization of groups of mobile robots working in a cooperative fashion can be of great advantage. To execute such tasks, a multirobot formation control framework is necessary in order to coordinate the motions of the robots in the group. In this article, a particular formation control approach c...

This paper proposes a novel hybrid formation control technique for a group of differentially driven wheeled mobile robots in the Leader-Follower framework. In the proposed method, the leader robot of the group plans its path of navigation by an artificial potential field and the follower robots plan their path in order to follow the leader robot by maintaining a particular formation employing t...

Typical formulations of the forward and inverse velocity kinematics of wheeled mobile robots assume flat terrain, consistent constraints, and no slip at the wheels. Such assumptions can sometimes permit the wheel constraints to be substituted into the differential equation to produce a compact, apparently unconstrained result. However, in the general case, the terrain is not flat, the wheel con...

This paper presents the use of a hybrid collaborative stereo vision system (3D-distributed visual sensing using different kind of vision cameras) for the autonomous navigation of a wheeled robot team. It is proposed a triangulation-based method for the 3D-posture computation of an unknown object by considering the collaborative hybrid stereo vision system, and this way to steer the robots team ...

This paper presents an energetic model that analyzes energy utilization in mobile robot traverse and estimates maximum range achievable by wheeled mobile robots operating on a single battery discharge. After taking into account different energy utilizations, such as propulsion and steering, the model indicates that the most energy-consuming part of mobile robot is robotics functions, such as co...

In modern day disaster recovery mission has become one of the top priorities in any natural disaster management regime. Smart autonomous robots may play a significant role in such missions, including search for life under earth quake hit rubbles, Tsunami hit islands, de-mining in war affected areas and many other such situations. In this paper current state of many walking robots are compared a...

Analysis of the power consumption for walking and running robots is particularly important for trajectory planning tasks as it enables motion plans that minimize energy consumption and do not violate power limitations of the robot actuators. This paper builds upon previous work on wheeled skid-steered robots, and for curvilinear motion of the XRL hexapedal robot, presents models of the inner an...

Disaster recovery robots must operate in unstructured environments where wheeled or tracked motion may not be feasible or where it may be subject to extreme slip. Many industrial disaster scenarios also preclude reliance on GNSS or other external signals as robots are deployed indoors or underground. Two of the candidates for precise positioning in these scenarios are visual odometry and inerti...

The paper presents a solution to the problem of combined trajectory tracking and path following system design for underactuated mobile robots with non negligible dynamics. This problem is motivated by the practical need to develop control systems for mobile robots that can yield good trajectory tracking performance while keeping some of the properties that are normally associated with path foll...