Sinusoidal input-based visual control for nonholonomic vehicles

This paper proposes a new visual control approach based on sinusoidal inputs to be used on a nonholonomic robot. We present several contributions: In our method, developed considering a unicycle kinematic model, sinusoids are used in such a way that the generated vehicle trajectories are feasible, smooth and versatile. Our technique improves previous sinusoidal-based control works in terms of efficiency and flexibility. As further contributions, we present analytical expressions for the evolution of the robot's state, and propose a new state-feedback control law based on these expressions. All the information used in the control scheme is obtained from omnidirectional vision by means of the one-dimensional trifocal tensor. Stability analysis of the proposed approach is presented, and its performance is illustrated through experiments.