A stable tracking control method for an autonomous mobile robot

A stable tracking control rule is proposed for nonholonomic vehicles. The stability of the rule is proved through the use of a Liapunov function. Inputs to the vehicle are a reference posture (x _r, y_r, θ_r)^t and reference velocities (ν_r, ω_r) ^t. The major objective of this study is to propose a control rule to find reasonable target linear and rotational velocities (ν, ω)^t. Linearizing the system´s differential equation is useful for deciding parameters for critical dumping for a small disturbance. In order to avoid slippage, a velocity/acceleration limitation scheme is introduced. Several simulation results are presented with or without the velocity/acceleration limiter. The control rule and limiting method proposed are robot independent and hence can be applied to various kinds of mobile robots with a dead reckoning ability. This method was implemented on the autonomous mobile robot Yamabico-11. Experimental results obtained are close to the results with the velocity/acceleration limiter