Leader-follower control with odometry error analysis

In this paper we present a mobile robot tracking controller, which when applied to leader-following, enables the follower to move along a trajectory “parallel” to its leader, maintaining a specific relative position with respect to it. The dynamic model for the mobile robot is first developed, and then the tracking controller is constructed based on backstepping. We show that this controller asymptotically stabilizes the tracking error to the origin. Simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed controller, and highlight its potential use on formation control. Pure tracking is discussed as a special case, and it is noted that the proposed approach can be applied even to cases where reference trajectories are kinematically infeasible. Motivated by experimental observations, we analyze the effect of cumulative odometry errors on the performance of the tracking controller, and we show that tracking errors remain bounded if absolute position measurements are available infinitely often.