Finite-time cascaded tracking control approach for mobile robots

This paper develops a new control approach for trajectory tracking of mobile robots. For the purpose of tracking trajectory, the error dynamics of a mobile robot are divided into a first-order subsystem and a second-order subsystem by using a cascaded control design. Firstly, a global finite-time control law of the angular velocity is designed for the first-order system in order to stabilize the angle error of mobile robots. Subsequently, a finite-time sliding mode control law of forward velocity is synthesized, which guarantees the global stability of the second-order subsystem. Furthermore, the global uniform stability of the whole closed-loop system is analyzed by employing cascaded control theory, and some sufficient conditions are derived. Finally, the proposed control algorithm is applied to mobile robots, where simulation results demonstrate good convergence and performance.