Navigation and control of a wheeled mobile robot

Several approaches for incorporating navigation functions into different controllers are developed in this paper for task execution by a nonholonomic system (e.g., a wheeled mobile robot) in the presence of known obstacles. The first approach is based on the use of a 3-dimensional (position and orientation) navigation function that is based on desired trajectory information. The navigation function yields a path from an initial condition inside the free configuration space of the mobile robot to a stable equilibrium point. A differentiable, oscillator-based controller is then used to enable the mobile robot to follow the path and stop at the goal position. A second approach is developed for a 2-dimensional (position-based) navigation function that is constructed using sensor feedback. A differentiable controller is proposed based on this navigation function that yields asymptotic convergence.