Distributed approximation-free design for ensuring network connectivity of uncertain nonholonomic multi-robot synchronized tracking systems with disturbances

Abstract

A distributed approximation-free design for maintaining initial connectivity of uncertain nonholonomic multi-robot synchronized tracking systems is developed under limited communication ranges where the models of followers are regarded as the kinematics and dynamics of uncertain nonholonomic mobile robots. All nonlinearities and external disturbances in the followers' dynamics are assumed to be unknown. The primary improvement in the current development is that local trackers for ensuring connectivity among robots are designed by using only relative posture errors and adaptive function approximators such as neural networks or fuzzy logic systems are not utilized despite unknown nonlinearities in the robot dynamics. This improvement has been done by transforming individual linear position errors among mobile robots to individual nonlinear position errors using connectivity-preserving functions with communication ranges. The predefined synchronized tracking performance and the guaranteed connectivity of the overall closed-loop system are proved via the Lyapunov stability theorem.

Keywords: Approximation-free design; Distributed synchronized tracking; Guaranteed connectivity; Uncertain networked nonholonomic mobile robots.