Optimal Control of a Two Wheeled Mobile Robot

摘要

Feedback control of a two wheeled mobile robot from one point in itsconfiguration space to another presents a challenging problem. The mobile robot belongs to a class of systems with non-integrable motion constraints for which smooth feedback control laws cannot be designed. Recent work has been aimed at developing time-varying feedback control laws and piecewise smooth feedback control laws. These control techniques are, however, not optimal in any sense. In this research, we look into the optimal control of a mobile robot using partial feedback. A solution is obtained by application of Pontryagin's Minimization Principle and solving the associated two point boundary value problem using a numerical relaxation technique. The resulting robot trajectories exhibit optimal behavior for all non-trivial cases.