Teleoperation of a cluster of mobile robots subject to model uncertainty

This paper considers the teleoperation of a cluster of mobile robots that are required to follow a desired trajectory while maintaining a desired rigid formation pattern. The centroid of the robot formation is modeled as a virtual robot. Distributed control laws designed using a backstepping method are proposed for each robot with the aid of neighbors´ information. It is shown that the motion of the centroid of the cluster of robots is synchronized to that of the virtual robot. The theoretical results are validated by simulations on a cluster of five mobile robots.