The consensus problem of multiple nonholonomic mobile robots in the form of high-order chained structure is considered in this paper. Based on the model features and the finite-time control technique, a finite-time cooperative controller is explicitly constructed which guarantees that the states consensus is achieved in a finite time. As an application of the proposed results, finite-time formation control of multiple wheeled mobile robots is studied and a finite-time formation control algorithm is proposed. To show effectiveness of the proposed approach, a simulation example is given.

Summary The finite‐time formation control for multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots with a leader‐following structure is studied. Different from the existing results, the considered mobile robot has the following features: (i) a higher‐order dynamic model, (ii) the robot's velocities cannot be measured, and (iii) there are external disturbances. To solve the problem, a finite‐time consensus formation control algorithm via output feedback is explicitly given. At the first step, some finite‐time convergent observers are skillfully constructed to estimate both the unknown velocity information and the disturbance in finite time by imposing certain assumptions on the disturbances. Then, on the basis of the integral sliding‐mode control method, a disturbance observer‐based finite‐time output feedback controller is developed. Rigorous proof shows that the finite‐time formation can be achieved in finite time. An example is finally given to verify the efficiency of the proposed method.

SummaryThis paper develops a systematic design scheme to construct a linear sampled‐data output feedback controller that semi‐globally asymptotically stabilizes a class of uncertain systems with both higher‐order and linear growth nonlinearities. To deal with the uncertain coefficients in the systems, a robust state feedback stabilizer and a reduced‐order sampled‐data observer, both in the linear form, are constructed and then integrated together. The semi‐global attractivity and local stability are delicately proved by carefully selecting a scaling gain using the output feedback domination approach and a sampling period sufficiently small to restrain the state growth under a zero‐order‐holder input. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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