Continuous-curvature kinematic control for path following problems

The main contribution of the paper is to demonstrate the benefits of a new kinematic control method within the Pure-Pursuit framework, based on continuous-curvature paths, against a classic approach to Pure-Pursuit methods commonly used in mobile robotics. The new method can be applied in a generic path following problem and it is based on combinations of clothoids with line segments and circular arcs, providing a general curvature profile. The main advantage is that generated paths take into account lower and upper bounds of curvature and sharpness which implies smoother and safer trajectories, not considered in other methods. It is shown that the proposed method has better performance with respect to settling time, overshoot and little influence on design parameters. As application, a vision-based path following continuous-curvature control problem has been implemented on an industrial forklift vehicle in order to show the advantage of the method.