Closed loop navigation for multiple non-holonomic vehicles

In this paper we incorporate dipolar potential fields used for nonholonomic navigation into a novel potential function designed for multi-robot navigation. The derived navigation function is suitable for navigation of multiple nonholonomic vehicles. A properly designed discontinuous feedback control law is applied to steer the nonholonomic vehicles. The derived closed form control scheme provides robust navigation with guaranteed collision avoidance and global convergence properties, as well as fast feedback, rendering the methodology particularly suitable for real time implementation. Collision avoidance and global convergence properties are verified through non-trivial computer simulations.