Observer-Based Robust Cluster Space Control for Omnidirectional Robot Formations
Mas, Ignacio Giribet, Juan I.
Mas, Ignacio
Giribet, Juan I.
Type
Artículo de publicación periódica
Abstract
This article describes an effective control approach for Wheeled Omnidirectional Mobile Robot Formations, capable of compensating disturbances generated by unknown forces acting on the vehicles. The multi-robot formations are modeled as uncertain multi-variable dynamical systems subject to undesired traction dynamics, measurement noise, and unknown attraction or repulsion forces between robots, all of which significantly affect their motion. The proposed approach employs an Observer-Based Sliding Mode Control scheme derived from a dynamic model defined within a Cluster Space framework, which enables the decoupling of inter-robot disturbances along state variables conveniently selected. These decoupled disturbances are actively rejected through estimates provided by a reduced set of High-Gain Observers, which are then incorporated into the feedback control law. The performance of the proposed Cluster Space-based controller is evaluated against an Observer-based Active Disturbance Rejection Control formulated in the conventional pose space of robots, which requires a larger number of disturbance observers. Closed-loop behavior is assessed first through high-fidelity simulations of 2-robot and 3-robot multi-body formations, and then through real experiments with a 2-robot prototype. The results confirm that both controllers achieve successful trajectory tracking and disturbance rejection, with the proposed Cluster Space approach offering notable simplification due to the reduced number of observers, while maintaining comparable performance with a lower computational burden in the estimation process.
Description
Date
2026-05-21
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IEE
Collections
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
ROBOTS, MODELING, TIMING, TRACKING, OBSERVERS, DISTANCE MEASUREMENT, FORCE, WHEELS, DYNAMICS, SIMULATION
Citation
M. Baquero-Suárez, I. Mas and J. I. Giribet, "Observer-Based Robust Cluster Space Control for Omnidirectional Robot Formations," in IEEE Access, vol. 14, pp. 78659-78681, 2026, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2026.3695529