Dynamic Tracking Control of Mobile Robot

using Exponential Sliding Mode

Hasan Mehrjerdi, Student Member, IEEE, Maarouf Saad, Senior Member, IEEE

Department of Electrical Engineering, École de technologie supérieure, Quebec University, Canada

hasan.mehrjerdi.1@ens.etsmtl.ca, Maarouf.Saad@etsmtl.ca

Abstract— This paper proposes an exponential sliding mode sliding mode control. Section IV demonstrates simulation
control for trajectory tracking of nonholonomic wheeled results. Finally, we conclude the paper in section V.
mobile robots. A new solution to the problem of chattering in
variable structure control is presented.
Exponential sliding mode is defined to reduce chattering and II. MODELING OF MOBILE ROBOT
keep high dynamic tracking performance in steady state mode
for mobile robot. This algorithm instructs the robot to keep Fig.1 shows the general model of a mobile robot. It
move on the desired path while reduce tracking errors. The consists of two driving wheels mounted on the same axis in
simulation results obtained with unicycle mobile robot is front and two back free wheels.
presented to demonstrate the performance of exponential
sliding mode controller algorithm compare to conventional

th
sliding mode.

Pa
e
nc
re
fe
I. INTRODUCTION

Re
y qr (t ) = [ xr (t ), yr (t ),ψ r (t )]

In recent years, different control techniques have been Y 2r

X
proposed to control and steer mobile robot on real-time
trajectory from an initial position to a target. Due to the
intrinsic nonlinearity in dynamics of the mobile robot and
y C0
nonholonomic constraints, nonlinear architectures as
intelligent methods, back stepping, feedback linearization

t
bo
Ro
and sliding mode control have been studied [1]-[3], [8],[9].
2L
The motivation of using sliding mode control (SMC) is its
robustness, fast response, the simplicity of the derived ψ
control law and good transient performance [5]-[7] , [10]. x
O x
SMC can be applied to a general class of nonlinear systems
Fig. 1. Unicycle mobile robot
with robustness against uncertainties and disturbances.
However, the SMC technique showed that the real sliding
mode exhibited chattering, which is the most critical Where in this figure, r is the radius of each driving wheels
concern in SMC applications. and L is distance between driving wheel and the axes of
The three main algorithms have been proposed to symmetry.
chattering elimination and attenuation in SMC as: The use For this mobile robot, general dynamics equation is
of the saturation control instead of the discontinuous one described by [8]:
[12], the observer-based approach [13] and the high-order
M ( q ) q + C ( q , q ) = B ( q )τ + A ( q ) λ
T
(1)
sliding-mode approach [14].
Chattering is the high frequency finite amplitude control
q = [ x , y ,ψ ] ∈ R
n

signal generated by the sliding mode method, this behavior where is generalized coordinates,
to the discontinuity of the sign function on the sliding τ ∈ R = [τ r ,τ l ]
r T
is the input vector and consists of
manifold [4], [11]. motors’ torques τ r and τ l which act on the right and left
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new sliding
mode control to reduce the chattering with exponential wheels, λ ∈ R m is the vector of constraint forces,
sliding mode. We focus on an exponential sliding mode M ( q ) ∈ R n×n is a symmetric and positive-definite inertia
control and compare it with conventional sliding mode n×n

control. With the proposed control law, the mobile robot matrix, C ( q , q ) ∈ R is the centripetal and coriolis matrix,
n× r
converge to a given reference trajectory with asymptotic B (q ) ∈ R is the input transformation matrix, and
stability. The dynamic equations of mobile robot are used to m× n
A( q ) ∈ R is the matrix associated with the constraints.
describe motion of robot.
The kinematic constraints are assumed to be expressed as:
The paper is organized as follow: In section II, we present
dynamics model of mobile robot. Section III describes,

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A(q )q = 0 (2) From relation 7 and 8, we can conclude that:

where A( q ) = [ sin ψ − cosψ 0 ] ⇒ x sin ψ − y cosψ = 0 (τ r + τ l ) L(τ r − τ l )

v = , ω = (9)
mr Ir
⎡ c( L cosψ ) c( L cosψ ) ⎤
It is clear that R ( q ) = ⎢ c ( L sinψ ) c ( L sinψ ) ⎥ satisfies
⎢ ⎥ In this equation, m = mc + 2mω and I = I c + 2mω L2 + 2 I m
⎢⎣ c −c ⎥⎦
Where mc is the mass of the robot without the driving
r ⎡v ⎤
A( q ) R( q ) = 0 , where c = . We consider v (t ) = ⎢ r ⎥
2L ⎣ vl ⎦ wheels, mω is the mass of each driving wheel plus the

Where vr , vl represent the angular velocities of right and motor rotor, I c is the moment of inertia of the platform

left wheels. We define: without the driving wheels, Iω is the moment of inertia of
each wheel including the motor rotor about the wheel axis
q = R ( q )v (t ) (3)
and I m is the moment of inertia of each wheel and the
Equation (3) can be rewritten as: motor rotor about a wheel diameter.

⎡ x ⎤ ⎡ cL cosψ cL cosψ ⎤
III. EXPONENTIAL SLIDING MODE CONTROL
⎢ y ⎥ = ⎢ cL sinψ ⎡v ⎤
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ cL sinψ ⎥⎥ ⎢ r ⎥ (4)
v
⎢⎣ψ ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ c −c ⎥⎦ ⎣ l ⎦ Fig. 2 illustrates a model used in this paper to path tracking
of a mobile robot.
If we consider v and ω as linear and angular velocities of τr
Path
qe (t ) Dynamic of
Sliding Mode
mobile robot, the relation between vr , vl and v, ω can be Planner + Mobile Robot
− Control
τl
⎡ xd (t ) ⎤
explained as :
qd (t ) = ⎢⎢ yd (t ) ⎥⎥
⎡1 L ⎤ ⎢⎣ψ d (t ) ⎥⎦ q (t ) = [ x(t ), y(t ),ψ (t )]
⎡ vl ⎤ ⎢ r r ⎥⎡v⎤ (5) Localization
⎢v ⎥ = ⎢ 1 ⎥ ⇒ v = Hv1
L ⎢ω ⎥
Position Estimate
⎣ r⎦ ⎢ − ⎥⎣ ⎦
⎢⎣ r r ⎥⎦
Fig. 2. Infrastructure of sliding mode control.
From (4) and (5), we get :
with considering C ( q, q ) = 0 , dynamic equation (1) can be
⎡ x ⎤ ⎡ cosψ 0 ⎤
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎡v⎤ (6) defined as :
⎢ y ⎥ = ⎢ 2L 0 ⎥ ⎢ω ⎥ = R1v1
⎣⎢ψ ⎦⎥ ⎣⎢ 0 1 ⎥⎦ ⎣ ⎦
M ( q ) q = B ( q )τ + A ( q ) λ
T
(10)
With derivative of equation (6) we get :
q = R1v1 ⇒ q = R1v1 + R1v1 Multiply equation (10) by RT give:

⎡ x ⎤ ⎡ −ψ sinψ 0 ⎤ ⎡ cosψ 0 ⎤ (7) RT M (q)q = RT B(q)τ + RT AT (q)λ ⇒ RT M (q )q = RT B(q )τ ⇒
⎥ ⎡ v ⎤ + ⎢ sinψ ⎡ v ⎤
q = ⎢⎢ 
y ⎥⎥ = ⎢⎢ ψ cosψ 0 ⎥ ⎢ω ⎥ ⎢ 0 ⎥⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⇒
ω
⎢⎣ψ ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 0 ⎥⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 1 ⎥⎦ ⎣ ⎦ q = ( RT M (q))−1 RT B(q )τ ⇒ q = ( RT M (q))−1 RT B(q)τ = J (q)τ
(11)
x ⎤ ⎡ −ψ v sinψ + v cosψ ⎤
⎡ 
⎢  ⎥ ⎢  ⎥
⎢ y ⎥ = ⎢ v sinψ + ψ v cosψ ⎥

⎢⎣ψ ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ ω ⎥⎦ Position, velocity and acceleration errors can be defined as:

From equation (1), the dynamic equation can be rewritten ⎧e = T ( q − qd )

⎪
as: ⎨e = T ( q − q d ) + T ( q − q d ) (12)
⎪e = T( q − q ) + T ( q − q ) + 2T ( q − q )
⎡ m 0 0 ⎤ ⎡ x⎤ ⎡ cosψ cosψ ⎤ ⎡ sinψ ⎤ ⎩ d d d
⎢ 0 m 0 ⎥ ⎢  ⎥ = 1 ⎢ sinψ ⎡τ ⎤
⎢ y
⎥⎢ ⎥ r ⎢ sinψ ⎥⎥ ⎢ r ⎥ + ⎢⎢ − cosψ ⎥⎥ λ (8)
τ
⎣⎢ 0 0 I ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ψ ⎥⎦ ⎣⎢ L − L ⎦⎥ ⎣ l ⎦ ⎣⎢ 0 ⎦⎥

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 ⎡cos(ψ ) sin(ψ ) 0 ⎤ s
Where T = ⎢ − sin(ψ ) cos(ψ ) 0 ⎥ .
⎢ ⎥ t
⎣⎢0 0 1 ⎥⎦
,α 3
The errors in posture with respect to a local frame of ,K
3
,α

2
μ0 3
,K α1

2
reference of the robot, is given by: μ )
SM

,
02
K1
(C

,
μ

01
1
=
⎡ xerr ⎤ ⎡ cos(ψ ) sin(ψ ) 0 ⎤ ⎡ x − xd ⎤ μ 0

⎢ y ⎥ = ⎢ − sin(ψ ) cos(ψ ) 0 ⎥ ⎢ y − y ⎥ (13)

⎢ err ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ d
⎥
⎢⎣ψ err ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 0 1⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ψ − ψ d ⎥⎦
s (0)
Fig. 3. Switching function with exponential sliding control for different
The time derivative of the posture errors into account the
values of K and μ 0 .
constraints x sin ψ − y cosψ = 0 yields:
J ( q ) can be found as:
⎧ xerr = v − vd cos(ψ err ) + yerrω
⎪ J ( q ) = ( RT M ( q )) −1 RT B ( q )
⎨ y er = vd sin(ψ err ) − xerrω (14)
⎪ψ = ψ −ψ = ω − ω ⎡ ⎡ m 0 0 ⎤⎤
−1

⎩ err d d
⎢ ⎡ c ( L cosψ ) c ( L sin ψ ) c ⎤ ⎢
= ⎢ 0 m 0 ⎥⎥ ⋅ (21)
The first step in sliding mode control is to choose the ⎢ ⎣ c ( L cosψ ) c ( L sin ψ ) −c ⎥⎦ ⎢ ⎥⎥
⎢⎣ ⎢⎣ 0 0 I ⎥⎥
⎦⎦
switching function S in terms of the tracking error. General
switching function for sliding mode control can be ⎡ cosψ cos ψ ⎤
⎡ c ( L cosψ ) c ( L sin ψ ) c ⎤ 1 ⎢ ⎥
considered as: ⎢ c ( L cosψ ) c ( L sin ψ ) −c ⎥ r ⎢ sin ψ sin ψ
⎣ ⎦ ⎥
d ⎣⎢ L − L ⎦⎥
S =( + λ ) n −1 e
dt (15) The exponential sliding mode proposed in this paper is
if n = 2 ⇒ S = e + λ e given by :
K
When the sliding surface is reached, the tracking error S = e + λ e , S = − sign( S ) (22)
Q(S )
converges to zero as long as the error vector stays on the
p
surface. The convergence rate is in direct relation with the −α S
Where Q ( S ) = μ + (1 − μ ) e , equation 22 can be
value of λ . 0 0

If we consider Lyapunov function as: rewritten as :

K
V =
1
S S ⇒ V = S S
T T
(16) S = e + λ e = − p sign ( S ) (23)
−α S
2 μ 0 + (1 − μ 0 )e

To make system stable, we consider S as: μ 0 is a strictly positive offset less than 1, p is a strictly
S = − K .sign( S ) , ∀t , k > 0 ⇒ V < 0 (17) positive integer, and α is also strictly positive.
This proposed exponential sliding mode does not change
Derivative of equation (15) give: the stability of equation (15), because Q ( S ) is always strictly
S = e + λ e , S = − K sgn( S ) ⇒ e + λ e = − K sgn( S ) (18) positive. From the reaching law stated in equation (24), if
S increases, Q ( S ) approaches μ 0 , and therefore K / Q ( S )
Using equations (12) and (18) we get:
converges to K / μ , which is greater than K . This means
[ ]
q = qd − T (T + λT )( q − qd ) + (2T + λT )(q − qd ) + K sgn( S ) =
−1 0

that K / Q ( S ) increases in reaching phase, and

qd − T γ
−1
consequently the attraction of the sliding surface will be
(19) faster. On the other hand, if S decreases then Q ( S )
Where γ = [ (T + λT )( q − qd ) + (2T + λT )(q − qd ) + K sgn( S ) ] approaches 1 and K / Q ( S ) converges to K . This means
that when the system approaches the sliding surface,
From equations (13) and (19) the control law can be found K / Q ( S ) gradually decreases in order to limit the
as:
chattering. Therefore, the this proposed sliding mode allow
τ = J (q ) −1 ( qd − T −1γ − F (q )) (20) to dynamically adapt to the variations of the switching
function by letting K / Q ( S ) to vary between K

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 Fig. 6. Linear velocity of robot.
and K / μ . If μ is chosen to be equal to 1, the reaching
0 0
0.15
W ref
law of equation (23) becomes identical to that of equation -3 W actual
x 10

(15). Chattering 12
0.1 11
10

Angular velocity (rad/s)

Figure 3 shows Switching function with exponential sliding 9
8

control for different values of K and μ . As can be seen in

7
0.05
105 106 107 108 109

this figure, if we select μ = 1 exponential sliding control 0

0

will be the same as conventional sliding mode. -0.05

IV. SIMULATION RESULTS -0.1

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Time (s)

To illustrate the performance of the proposed exponential Fig. 7. Angular velocity of robot.
sliding mode in section III, simulation tests are done on a
unicycle-type mobile robot. The dynamics parameters In the second scenario, exponential sliding mode with
which are for a real mobile robot which called EtsRo are control gains K = 0.01 ; λ = 10, μ0 = 0.1 , α = 3 , p = 1 is
considered as:
considered. The initial position of robots is
m = 2.3 kg , I = .01 kg / m2 , r = .04 m , L = .1 m [ x(t0 ), y (t0 ),θ (t0 )]T = [0,0,0]T . The path tracking and path

Simulink tests are done on sinudial-shape path. In the first following errors xerr , yerr and the heading error ψ err for
scenario, conventional sliding mode with control gains robot are shown in Fig. 8 and 9 respectively. Fig. 10 and 11
K = 0.1 ; λ = 10 is considered. The initial position of represent linear and angular velocities.
robots is [ x(t0 ), y (t0 ),θ (t0 )]T = [0,0,0]T . The path tracking and
1
path following errors xerr , yerr and the heading errorψ err for Robot

robot are shown in Fig. 4 and 5 respectively. Fig. 6 and 7

y(m)

0
represent linear and angular velocities.
-1
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 x(m)
Fig. 8. References paths and real robots trajectories.
y(m)

0.03
Xerr
-1 Yerr
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
0.02 Thetaerr
x(m) Theta err

Fig. 4. References paths and real robots trajectories. 0.01

Path tracking errors

0
0.03
Xerr
-0.01 X err
Yerr
0.02 Theta err
Thetaerr
Y err
-0.02
0.01
Path tracking errors

-0.03
0
X err -0.04
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
-0.01
Time (s)

-0.02 Fig. 9. Path following errors xerr , yerr ,ψ err .

Y err
-0.03

0.08
-0.04
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Time (s) 0.07 Chattering 0.049

0.048

Fig. 5. Path following errors xerr , yerr ,ψ err . 0.06 0.047

Linrae Velocity (m/s)

0.046
105 106 107 108 109 110 111
0.05
0.08
Vref
Chattering 0.05

Vactual
0.04
0.07 0.048

0.046
0.03
0.06 0.044
Linear velocity (m/s)

106 108 110 112 114

0.02
0.05
0.01
0.04
0
0.03 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Time (s)
0.02 Fig. 10. Linear velocity of robot.
0.01

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Time (s)

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 0.15
-3
x 10
[3] J.M.Yang and J.H.Kim, “Sliding mode control of for trajectory
Chattering 10
tracking of nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots,” IEEE Trans.
0.1 9
Robot. Automat. vol.15, no.3, pp.578–587, Jun.1999.
Angular Velocity (rad/s)

[4] G. Bartolini, A. Ferrara, and E. Usai, “Chattering avoidance by

8

0.05
107 108 109 110 111 112
second-order sliding mode control,” IEEE Transactions on
Automatic Control., vol.43, no.2, pp.241–246, 1998.
0
[5] A. Ferrara, and M. Rubagotti, “Second-order sliding-mode control of
a mobile robot based on a harmonic potential field,” Control Theory
and Applications, IET., vol.2, no.9, pp.807–818, 2008.
-0.05
[6] V.Sankaranarayanan and A. D.Mahindrakar, “Control of a Class of
Wref
Wactual
Underactuated Mechanical Systems Using Sliding Modes,” IEEE
-0.1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 Transactions on Robotics, vol.25, no.2, pp. 459–467, 2009.
Time (s) [7] M.S.Park, D.Chwa, and S.K.Hong, “Decoupling Control of A Class
Fig. 11. Angular velocity of robot. of Underactuated Mechanical Systems Based on Sliding Mode
Control,” International Joint Conference SICE-ICASE, pp. 806–810,
The results obtained by the proposed exponential sliding 2006.
[8] T.Fukao, H.Nakagawa, and N.Adachi, “Adaptive tracking control of
mode and conventional sliding method are compared. a nonholonomic mobile robot ,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics and
Tables I, show the results obtained by these methods with Automation, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 609–615, 2000.
the path following errors in which xerr −total , yerr −total and [9] R. Fierro and F. L. Lewis, “Control of a nonholonomic mobile robot:
backstepping kinematics into dynamics,” in Proc. 34th IEEE Conf.
α total , MSE can be calculated by: Decision Control, 1995, pp. 3805–3810.
[10] S. Riachy, Y. Orlov, T. Floquet, R. Santiesteban, and J.-P.Richard,
f f
“Second-order sliding mode control of underactuated mechanical
∑x err ( n ) ∑y err ( n ) systems 1: Local stabilization with application to an inverted
xerr − total = n =0
, yerr − total = n=0
, pendulum,” Int. J. Robust Nonlinear Control, vol. 18, pp. 529–543,
f f Mar. 2008.
f f
(25) [11] J.-M. Yang and J.-H. Kim, “Sliding-mode control for trajectory

∑ψ ∑
tracking of nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots,” IEEE Trans.
err ( n ) x 2
err ( n ) +y 2
err ( n ) +α 2
(n) Robot. Autom., vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 578–587, Jun. 1999.
ψ err −total = n =0
, MSE = n=0
[12] I. Boiko, L. Fridman, A. Pisano, and E. Usai, “Analysis of chattering
f f in systems with second-order sliding modes,” IEEE Trans. Autom.
Control, vol. 52, no. 11, pp. 2085–2102, Nov. 2007.
MSE is defined as the mean square error and f is sampling [13] J. J. Slotine and W. Li, Applied Nonlinear Control. Englewood
point. As this table show, when the robots move on their Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1991.
[14] V. Utkin, J. Guldner, and J. Shi, Sliding Modes in Electromechanical
desired paths, the exponential sliding controller produces a Systems. London, U.K.: Taylor & Francis, 1999.
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sliding method, which means that the robots follow their control,’’ Int. J. Control, vol. 58, pp. 1247---1263, 1993.
paths more precisely.
TABLE I
COMPARISON BETWEEN EXPONENTIAL AND CONVENTIONALSLIDING MODE
Exponential Sliding Conventional Sliding
Total xerr y err ψ err MSE xerr y err ψ err MSE
errors
0.0033 0.0204 0.0191 0.0373 7.1751e- 0.0270 0.0171 0.0422
Robot1 004

V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, conventional and exponential sliding mode
controls are applied to a mobile robot. Exponential sliding
mode is proposed to reduce chattering and increase tracking
performances for nonholonomic mobile robot. Simulation
results on a unicycled-mobile showed the advantage of the
proposed approach over the conventional control, especially
regarding the reduction of chattering on the control input
laws.

REFERENCES

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sliding-mode controller,” IEEE Trans. Fuzzy Syst., vol.12, no.5, pp.
676–687, Oct.2004.
[2] O.H.Dagci, U.Y.Ogras, and U.Ozguner, “Path following controller
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Control Conf., 2003, vol.1, pp.903–908.

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