Multi-robot formation control with saturation constraints

A formation control scheme is studied for mobile robots with linear and angular velocity saturation constraint in this paper. The position of each mobile robot is obtained by GPS receiver module, and the yaw angle of mobile robot is obtained by magnetometer. Leader-follower formation method is applied to coordinate each mobile robot to keep the formation. The formation shape is described by the formation parameter matrix, and followers obtain the desired position coordination and yaw angle from the leader robot. Then, the formation control is transformed into a trajectory tracking problem for the following robots. Using Lyapunov stability theory, a bounded controller is designed and the stability of the closed-loop system is proved. MATLAB simulation results are given to verify the effectiveness of the developed formation control law.