Distributed Leader-following Formation Control for Mobile Robots with Unknown Amplitudes of Leader’s Velocity

This paper studies the distributed control for leader-following formation of mobile robots. The follower robots do not have full access to the linear and angular velocities of the leader robot. The network among all robots is described by a directed communication graph. The leader's velocity is assumed to be the linear combinations of a step signal and a finite number of sinusoidal signals. The follower robots are divided into two groups. Two forms of the dynamic control laws are proposed respectively, so that the controlled follower mobile robots and the leader can form the desired formation if the certain assumptions are satisfied. Finally, a simulation example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the dynamic control laws.