Trajectory Tracking and Pose Regulation of a Group of Mobile Robots based on Potential Fields and Virtual Leaders

In this paper, the formation and trajectory tracking control problem for multi-agent systems is presented. A cascade control strategy for a group of nonholonomic mobile robots with non-negligible dynamics is proposed. An outer loop is a kinematic controller which has two different goals: virtual Leaders are defined for the purpose of trajectory tracking and pose regulation, and potential functions are defined for formation control. The cascade inner loop consists in a computed torque strategy. Assuming that the communication graph is always connected, a stability analysis ensures minimization of tracking and formation errors. Lastly, the control strategies are verified by simulation.