A strategy of path following control for multi-steering tractor-trailer mobile robot

Tractor-trailer mobile robot (TTMR) is a typical nonholonomic and nonlinear system. In this paper, circle path following control for multi-steering TTMR considering the motion characteristics of single-steering TTMR is investigated. Based on the recursive kinematic equations, a control strategy which uses nonlinear states feedback as control inputs and stabilizes the system exponentially is proposed. In our method, trailers equipped with steering devices are controlled to follow some specific circles such that the width of the road covered by the whole system will decrease vs,hen the TTMR makes a turn. The stabilization and exponential convergence of the control laws are proved. Finally, simulations are presented and the experiment results show the validity and the effectiveness of our control laws.