This paper addresses motion control of a cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) of nonholonomic mobile robots navigating a dynamic environment while maintaining a locally rigid formation. We consider the design of acceleration-based control inputs that govern the motion of cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) using the artificial potential fields method for the avoidance of obstacles and attraction to designated targets. The control scheme utilizes a new leader-follower strategy using Cartesian coordinates to accomplish a collision-free locally rigid formation of an autonomous and intelligent transportation system. The concepts of virtual parking bays and minimum distance technique (MDT) are utilized to attain prescribed orientations of the formation at the final destination. The robustness of the control scheme is established by considering the effect noise on the formation, while the effectiveness of the proposed nonlinear control laws is demonstrated through computer simulations.

In this paper, we look into the dynamic motion planning and control of an unmanned aerial vehicle, namely, the quadrotor, governed by its dynamical equations. It is shown for the first time that the Direct or the Second Method of Lyapunov is an effective tool to derive a set of continuous nonlinear control laws that not only provide smooth trajectories from a designated initial position to a designated target, but also continuously minimise the roll and pitch of the quadrotor en route to its targets. The latter successfully addresses the challenging problem of a quadrotor autonomously transporting valuable and fragile payloads safely to the designated target. Computer simulations are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control laws.

Finding feasible solutions to motion planning and control problem of robotic systems in different environments with various applications is an active area of research. This article presents a new solution to the motion planning and control problem of a three-dimensional articulated mobile manipulator comprising a car-like mobile platform and a three-dimensional n-link articulated arm using the Lyapunov-based control scheme. The motion of the system is described as twofold: first, the car-like mobile platform moves from an initial position to its pseudo-target, and second, when the mobile platform is within some predefined distance from the pseudo-target, the end-effector of the robot arm is attracted to its designated target. Therefore, presenting a new 2-Step Algorithm in this paper for dual movement of the articulated mobile manipulator in 3D. In addition, a workspace cluttered with fixed spherical and rod obstacles of random sizes and positions is considered in this research. For the mobile manipulator to avoid an obstacle, the Minimum Distance Technique is adapted where a point on the robot that is closest to an obstacle will avoid the obstacle. The convergence of the two bodies and the stability of the mechanical system are guaranteed by the Lyapunov's direct method. The continuous nonlinear control laws proposed from the control scheme also take into account all mechanical singularities and velocity limitations associated with the system. Theoretical proofs and computer simulations validate the new continuous, acceleration-based, nonlinear, time-invariant control laws.

This paper essays a new solution to the landmark navigation problem of planar robots in the presence of randomly fixed obstacles through a new dynamic updating rule involving the orientation and steering angle parameters of a robot. The dynamic updating rule utilizes a first-order nonlinear ordinary differential equation for the changing of landmarks so that whenever a landmark is updated, the path followed by the robot remains continuous and smooth. This waypoints guidance is via specific landmarks selected from a new set of rules governing the robots field of view. The governing control laws guarantee asymptotic stability of the 2D point robot system. As an application, the landmark motion planning and control of a car-like mobile robot navigating in the presence of fixed elliptic-shaped obstacles are considered. The proposed control laws take into account the geometrical constraints imposed on steering angle and guarantee eventual uniform stability of the car-like system. Computer simulations, using Matlab software, are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique and its stabilizing algorithm.