Tracking control of mobile manipulators based on decentralized control

Abstract

This paper presents a decentralized control strategy for mobile manipulator systems. First, the whole system of mobile manipulator is divided into two interconnected subsystems: nonholonomic mobile platform subsystem and holonomic manipulator subsystem. Second, a kinematic and dynamic controllers are developed for mobile platform subsystem. The kinematic control provides the desired velocity that will be used to develop the dynamic controller that ensures the tracking of the desired trajectories of the mobile platform subsystem. Third, the control law of the manipulator subsystem is developed based on the desired and real values of the manipulator subsystem as well as the desired velocity of the platform subsystem. Lyapunov approach is used to prove the stability of the tracking error of both subsystems. Simulation results on 2 DOF manipulator mounted on a mobile platform are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.