Distributed adaptive cooperative control with fault compensation mechanism for heterogeneous multi-robot system

Abstract

In this paper, a distributed adaptive consensus law with fault compensation for a heterogeneous multi-robot system (MRS) is proposed. The design paradigm adopted in this work involves a leader-following cooperative algorithm featuring two distinct adaptive coupling gains to compensate for multiple additive time-varying faults. Exacerbating the situation, the follower robots commissioned in the leader-following mission are non-identical due to their dynamic characteristic as normally exist in a physical setup. The capability of the proposed scheme is investigated and compared with the other two recent works in two facets; one is to gauge how the algorithm is able to mitigate faults of varying nature in the presence of heterogeneous robot(s) while maintaining the platoon formation during the leader-following task; two is the ability to cope with subsequent topology reconfiguration. The stability and the robustness of the proposed scheme against bounded time-varying faults are proven using rigorous Lyapunov analysis. The proposed control strategy exempts the use of an observer or estimator, thereby simplifies the synthesis and implementation on mobile robots. The simulation results of the proposed adaptive consensus law demonstrate the best performance as compared to the other two recent works in the presence of multiple faulty robots.