A guiding vector field algorithm for path following control of nonholonomic mobile robots

TL;DR

This paper introduces a guiding vector field algorithm for nonholonomic mobile robots that ensures convergence to arbitrary smooth paths, with proven global stability and validated through real-world experiments.

Contribution

It presents a novel GVF-based path following method for nonholonomic robots, including a nonlinear controller and convergence analysis.

Findings

Global convergence of the algorithm is established.

The method successfully guides real wheeled robots along complex paths.

Experimental results demonstrate robustness and effectiveness.

Abstract

In this paper we propose an algorithm for path following control of the nonholonomic mobile robot based on the idea of the guiding vector field (GVF). The desired path may be an arbitrary smooth curve in its implicit form, that is, a level set of a predefined smooth function. Using this function and the robot's kinematic model, we design a GVF, whose integral curves converge to the trajectory. A nonlinear motion controller is then proposed which steers the robot along such an integral curve, bringing it to the desired path. We establish global convergence conditions for our algorithm and demonstrate its applicability and performance by experiments with real wheeled robots.