Finite-time stabilisation for a class of output-constrained nonholonomic systems with its application

This paper studies the problem of finite-time stabilisation for a class of uncertain nonholonomic systems in chained form with output constraint. A nonlinear mapping is first introduced to transform the output-constrained system into a new unconstrained one. Then, by employing the adding a power integrator technique and switching control strategy, a state feedback controller is successfully constructed to render that the states of closed-loop system converge to zero in a finite time without violation of the constraint. As an application of the proposed theoretical results, the problem of finite-time parking a unicycle-type mobile robot is tackled. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.