The scalar ϵ-controller: a spatial path tracking approach for ODV, Ackerman, and differentially-steered autonomous wheeled mobile robots

Path tracking algorithms for wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) are frequently parametric in the sense that they are time-based. This has the potential of introducing lag-related errors, and is not a direct approach. A spatial path tracking control algorithm, the ε-controller (C_ε), is developed in this paper. It is based solely on static path geometry with position feedback. The C_ε, is applied in simulation to three different WMR steering configurations to illustrate the performance and generality of this new approach. Actual results are found to parallel the simulated results.