Distributed Fixed-Time Control for Leader-Steered Rigid Shape Formation With Prescribed Performance

• Published in: IEEE transactions on cybernetics Vol. 54; no. 10; pp. 5708 - 5720
• Main Authors: Liang, Zhongchao, Lyu, Chunxiao, Shen, Mingyu, Zhao, Jing, Li, Zhongguo, Ding, Zhengtao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.10.2024
• Subjects: Decentralized control; Distributed control; fixed-time control; Formation control; Geometry; Multi-robot systems; multirobot vehicles; nonholonomic constraint; prescribed performance constraint; Protocols; rigid shape geometry; Robot kinematics; Robot sensing systems; Vehicle dynamics
• ISSN: 2168-2267; 2168-2275; 2168-2275
• DOI: 10.1109/TCYB.2024.3364146

Resorting to the principle of rigid body kinematics, a novel framework for a multirobot network is proposed to form and maintain an invariant rigid geometric shape. Unlike consensus-based formation, this approach can perform both translational and rotational movements of the formation geometry, ensuring that the entire formation motion remains consistent with the leader. To achieve the target formation shape and motion, a distributed control protocol for multiple Euler-Lagrange robotic vehicles subject to nonholonomic constraints is developed. The proposed protocol includes a novel prescribed performance control (PPC) algorithm that addresses the second-order dynamics of the robotic vehicles by employing a combination of nonsingular sliding manifold and adaptive law. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed formation framework and control protocol is demonstrated through the numerical simulations and practical experiments with a team of four robotic vehicles.