Formation Control and Experiment for Propeller‐Driven Car‐Like Robots With Amplitude and Rate Saturation Under Steering Fault‐Tolerant Control

ABSTRACT In this paper, a formation controller for propeller‐driven car‐like robots is developed, which is subject to input amplitude, rate saturation, and steering fault‐tolerant control. First, the model of the propeller‐driven car‐like robot is established, where actuator dynamics, amplitude, and rate saturation are considered. Second, the Gauss integration function is used to approximate the input saturation. Rate saturation will be converted into command input saturation and will be achieved by an auxiliary system. Third, the formation controller is developed based on the backstepping control and fault‐tolerant control, where the adaptive robust controller and neural‐network observer are combined to deal with steering fault. According to the Lyapunov stability theory, it is proved that the propeller‐driven car‐like robot formation will be stable under the developed controller, while signals in the closed‐loop system are ultimately uniformly bounded. Finally, simulation and experiment results verify the effectiveness of the proposed formation control scheme.