Towards Exponential Stabilization of Nonholonomic Systems via a Hybrid Control Method

In this paper, we consider a hybrid control strategy for stabilization of nonholonomic systems. In particular, we deal with a typical nonholonomic system, namely a two-wheeled vehicle. We first rewrite the system in a chained form, and then transform it into a nonholonomic integrator (NHI) system. Finally, we apply and modify the hybrid control method in (J.P. Hespanha and A.S. Morse, 1999) for the NHI system, so that the entire system is exponentially stable. We provide a simulation example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the transformation and the control, and give some analysis together with an example for the case where there are constraints on control inputs. We also extend the discussion to the case of four-wheeled vehicles