A PSO–Lyapunov Hybrid Stable Adaptive Fuzzy Tracking Control Approach for Vision-Based Robot Navigation

This paper proposes a novel methodology for autonomous mobile robot navigation utilizing the concept of tracking control. Vision-based path planning and subsequent tracking are performed by utilizing proposed stable adaptive state feedback fuzzy tracking controllers designed using the Lyapunov theory and particle-swarm-optimization (PSO)-based hybrid approaches. The objective is to design two self-adaptive fuzzy controllers, for -direction and -direction movements, optimizing both its structures and free parameters, such that the designed controllers can guarantee desired stability and, simultaneously, can provide satisfactory tracking performance for the vision-based navigation of mobile robot. The design methodology for the controllers simultaneously utilizes the global search capability of PSO and Lyapunov-theory-based local search method, thus providing a high degree of automation. Two different variants of hybrid approaches have been employed in this work. The proposed schemes have been implemented in both simulation and experimentations with a real robot, and the results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed concept.