Synchronization control for networked mobile robot systems based on Udwadia–Kalaba approach

This paper addresses the problem of synchronization control for networked multi-mobile robot systems from the perspective of analytical mechanics. By reformulating the task requirement as a constrained motion problem, a unified synchronization algorithm for networked multi-mobile robot systems with or without leaders is proposed in combination with algebraic graph theory and the Udwadia–Kalaba approach. With the proposed algorithm, the networked mobile robot system can achieve synchronization from arbitrary initial conditions for the leaderless case and realize accurate trajectory tracking with explicitly given reference trajectories for the leader-following case. Numerical simulations of a networked wheeled mobile robot system are performed under different network structures and various trajectory requirements to show the performance of the proposed control algorithm.