Tracking control of mobile robots and its application to formation control

In this paper, we investigate stability of a nonlinear tracking control for a mobile robot in connection with the method of artificial potential trench. We first refine the concept of potential trench function and propose several approaches to construct potential trench functions. Then we synthesize a control law that stabilizes a robot while tracking a goal point moving on a given segment (smooth curve) and extend it to a simple case of formation control. Results from computer simulation verify and demonstrate the effectiveness of this novel control.