Robust Distance-Based Tracking Control of Wheeled Mobile Robots Using Vision Sensors in the Presence of Kinematic Disturbances

Abstract

This paper proposes a robust distance-based tracking control method for two-wheeled differential drive mobile robots (WMRs) in the presence of kinematic disturbances, where only the visual image information between the WMR and the target is used to obtain distances, and the velocity sensors are not available. To achieve the tracking control of the WMR toward the target, a vision system is used so as to obtain the relative posture information between the WMR and the target. In particular, the WMR is assumed to move without velocity sensors, and the posture and velocity information for the WMR and that of the target is unavailable. The necessary information of the maximum velocities between the WMR and the target is thus estimated in an online manner. Correspondingly, a robust backstepping-like feedback linearization method is proposed to simultaneously compensate for the unknown velocities and kinematic disturbances. Experiments have been performed for the WMR with the vision system to verify that the proposed method can allow the WMR to track the target in the presence of kinematic disturbances, even without using the velocity sensors.