Path following control for an eel-like robot

Abstract

We investigate the problem of controlling the motion of an eel like-robot. Recent work has shown promising results for this type of systems, opening new issues in the field of efficient propulsion and high manoeuvrability systems. The motion planning is decoupled in the two subproblems of thrust generation and heading control. In this paper we investigate a new type of autonomous gait generation, explicitly controlling the local system curvatures. The solution is then coupled with a path following controller, using the virtual target principle. The controller design is based on Lyapunov techniques. Simulations illustrate the performances of the proposed solution.