Multi-Robot Leader Grouping Consistent Formation Control Method Research with Low Convergence Time Based on Nonholonomic Constraints

Aiming at the formation and maintenance of the multiple formations of nonholonomic constrained multi-robots, a leader-follower formation control method under the grouping consistency is proposed on the trajectory tracking of a nonholonomic constrained mobile robots with the low convergence time. The distributed control structure in the leader-follower formation is adopted. The multi-robot cooperative formation is realized by using the consistency algorithm of graph theory. According to the graph theory, the communication topology matrixes are designed by the consistency algorithm. The mathematical model of nonholonomic constrained robot is established with the wheeled structure as the mobile structure under the nonholonomic constraints. Then the navigation following model is transformed into the error model of a local coordinate system through the global coordinate transformation. The formation control law of multi-robot cooperative motion is put forward based on the leader-follower model. Its convergence is proved by the Lyapunov function. By setting the reasonable communication protocol parameters, the MATLAB software (Natick, MA, USA, R2016b) is employed on the simulation verification and result comparison. Through the comparison of the two leader formation control methods, the convergence time of the algorithm in this article can be 25% less than that of PFC. The effectiveness and feasibility of the formation control law are verified under the leader-follower method. The proposed control method lays a foundation for reducing the convergence time to improve the multi-robot cooperative motion under nonholonomic constraints.