Formation control of differential-drive mobile robots in the framework of functionally related systems

A novel approach for formation control of differential-drive mobile robots is presented in this paper. The control design is done in the framework of functionally related systems. Functionally related systems are the systems that are `virtually´ interconnected. The term `virtually´ denotes the situation in which the states or outputs of otherwise separated systems are functionally related to each other. If a formation of mobile robots is analyzed, it can be considered as a group of functionally related systems. Therefore, formation control of the robots can be synthesized in the mentioned framework.