IET Control Theory & Applications

Research Article

Trajectory tracking for a wheeled mobile robot ISSN 1751-8644

Received on 18th September 2019
Revised 4th December 2019
with an omnidirectional wheel on uneven Accepted on 2nd January 2020
E-First on 30th March 2020
ground doi: 10.1049/iet-cta.2019.1074
www.ietdl.org

Hongjiu Yang1 , Shizhan Wang1, Zhiqiang Zuo1, Peng Li1

1School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China
E-mail: yanghongjiu@tju.edu.cn

Abstract: In this study, trajectory tracking control is investigated based on a double closed-loop strategy for a wheeled mobile
robot with an omnidirectional wheel on uneven ground. The omnidirectional wheel is used to make the wheeled mobile robot
turn smoothly, however, external disturbances are caused when the wheeled mobile robot goes straight. Moreover, the external
disturbances also come from uneven ground for the wheeled mobile robot. An extended state observer with a time-varying gain
is designed to estimate the external disturbances in an inner loop of the double closed-loop strategy. Then a torque control law
for integral sliding mode control is given to track desired velocities. In an outer loop, a kinematic controller is designed to
generate the desired velocities. Experimental results are given to show the effectiveness and superiority of the double closed-
loop strategy for the wheeled mobile robot.

1 Introduction Fortunately, active disturbance rejection control has a strong

In recent years, wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) have attracted
significant attention due to their broad applications such as factory
inspection, outdoor exploration and goods handling [1]. Especially,
efficiency of cargo transportation has been significantly improved
for logistics by applying the WMRs in warehouses [2]. In order to
make the life of patients convenient, the WMRs have been applied
in hospital and domestic environment for ambient-assisted living
[3]. The WMRs have also been designed for planetary explorations
and filed disaster detections due to their good mobility [4]. Inspired
by these applications, a differential WMR with an omnidirectional
wheel has been investigated widely. The differential WMR has
many advantages such as simple mechanical frame, agile motion
and high energy efficiency [5]. The omnidirectional wheel with
passive rollers is used to improve steering accuracy and stability of
the WMR. However, the passive rollers of the omnidirectional
wheel cause external disturbances when the WMR goes straight
[6]. Furthermore, the WMRs often work in outdoors, hence they
inevitably travel on uneven ground with small bumps and dips. The
small bumps and dips always cause jolts of a mechanical frame and
reduce trajectory tracking performance [7]. Owing to an existence
of uneven ground, accurate trajectory tracking control strategies
with disturbance rejection abilities are primary and essential to
meet mission requirements for the WMR [8]. Up to now, a series of
control strategies have been investigated to solve trajectory
tracking problems for WMRs with the external disturbances. In [9],
a non-linear trajectory tracking control strategy has been proposed
for the WMR with three omnidirectional wheels based on a flexible
auxiliary law. A model predictive control strategy based on a
neurodynamics optimisation has been developed to deal with
external disturbances for a WMR in [10]. Besides, an optimisation-
based non-linear control strategy has been presented to achieve
trajectory tracking for the WMR with external disturbances in [11].
Furthermore, an adaptive tracking controller has been designed for
a WMR to overcome both wheel slip and external disturbance
force which are generated by uneven ground in [12]. Therefore,
trajectory tracking performance of the WMR is easily affected by
uneven ground and omnidirectional wheels. It is interesting to
develop a suitable disturbance rejection strategy to guarantee
accurate trajectory tracking control for the WMR with external
disturbances which are caused by the uneven ground and the
omnidirectional wheel.
ability to restrain the external disturbances and gains growing
attention due to its wide application prospect [13]. The active
disturbance rejection control is primarily composed of three parts:
a tracking differentiator (TD), an extended state observer (ESO)
and a non-linear state error feedback controller [14]. The TD
guarantees reliability of a differential signal extraction. In [15], a
linear TD has been proposed to generate a smooth motion
trajectory for vehicle kinetics tracking. The linear TD has also been
used to estimate frequency information of sinusoidal signals with
random noises in [16]. An important idea of the active disturbance
rejection control is that the ESO is designed to estimate external
disturbances. A higher-order ESO has been designed for a
brushless DC motor to estimate unmeasured auxiliary states and
external disturbances in [17]. Based on a neural network ESO, a
sliding mode fault-tolerant control strategy has been proposed for
an unmanned autonomous helicopter with actuator faults and wind
gusts in [18]. In [19], a non-linear ESO has been introduced for a
pneumatic servo system to estimate external disturbances and
modelling uncertainties. Combining advantages of a linear ESO
and a non-linear ESO, an adaptive ESO with time-varying observer
gains has been presented in [20]. In [21], an ESO with time-
varying gains has been proposed to reduce peaking values near an
initial time for an uncertain lower triangular non-linear system. To
improve control performance, an integral sliding mode control
(ISMC) method has been utilised to integrate with active
disturbance rejection control in [22]. The ISMC has many
advantages such as fast convergence, excellent robustness and high
control accuracy [23]. In [24], an adaptive ISMC scheme has been
designed to deal with actuator faults and external disturbances for a
class of uncertain non-linear systems. Adaptive ISMC has been
applied to achieve position tracking for a robot manipulator with
external disturbances and time-delay estimations in [25].
Moreover, the sliding mode control method is also utilised to
design observers. For a T-S fuzzy descriptor system, fuzzy
descriptor sliding mode observers have been proposed based on
linear switching and integral-type switching functions in [26].
Motivated by aforementioned discussions, our work aims to design
a control strategy with disturbance rejection abilities to obtain
desired trajectory tracking performance for the WMR with an
omnidirectional wheel on uneven ground in this paper.
In this paper, trajectory tracking control is considered for a
WMR with an omnidirectional wheel on uneven ground via a
double closed-loop strategy. In an outer loop, a kinematic

IET Control Theory Appl., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 7, pp. 921-929 921
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020

Fig. 1  WMR experimental platform
Fig. 2  Trajectory tracking control structure for the WMR
Fig. 3  Graphical representation of the WMR
controller is proposed to generate desired linear and angular
velocities for the WMR. In an inner loop, a linear TD is introduced
to extract reasonable differential signals of the desired velocities.
An ESO with a time-varying gain is designed to estimate external
disturbances timely and reduce peaking values near an initial time.
Moreover, a torque control law based on an ISMC method is
proposed such that actual velocities of the WMR keep up with the
desired velocities. The main contributions of this paper are
summarised as below.
i. A double closed-loop strategy is proposed to achieve accurate
trajectory tracking for a WMR with an omnidirectional wheel
on uneven ground.
922
ii. In an inner loop, a time-varying gain ESO is designed to
estimate external disturbances caused by the omnidirectional
wheel and uneven ground.
iii. A torque control law based on an ISMC method is utilised to
integrate with the designed ESO to improve a convergence rate
of trajectory tracking control.
Notations: In this paper, symbol ⋅ is used to denote an
absolute value. Given a matrix M , its transposed matrix is denoted
by M T. For a symmetric block matrix, ⋆ denotes a term that is
induced by symmetry. Symbol sign( ⋅ ) denotes a sign function.
fal( ⋅ ) is a non-linear piecewise function shown as the following
form:
κ(t)/σ 1 − ϱ, κ(t) ≤ σ
fal(κ(t), ϱ, σ) = ϱ
κ(t) sign(κ(t)), κ(t) > σ
where κ(t) is the variable, ϱ and σ are given parameters satisfying
0 < ϱ < 1 and σ ≥ 0, respectively. For simplicity, function
fal(κ(t), ϱ, σ) is expressed as fal(κ(t)) when the parameters ϱ and σ
are evident in this paper.
2 WMR control system
2.1 Experimental platform
In Fig. 1, a WMR experimental platform mainly consists of the
following six parts: A mechanical frame containing an
omnidirectional wheel and two driving wheels, an embedded
system, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a set of ultra-
wideband (UWB) location devices, a host computer and two
wireless data transmission units. The omnidirectional wheel is
equipped with 20 passive rollers. Each of the two driving wheels is
equipped with a DC motor and an encoder. The embedded system
is based on a STM32F407 microcontroller. The IMU model is
MPU-9150 which includes a gyroscope, an accelerometer and a
magnetometer. The UWB location devices consist of four tags in
which one tag is fixed on the mechanical frame and others are
placed in three corners of an experimental area to form a global
coordinate frame.
A trajectory tracking control structure for the WMR is shown in
Fig. 2. The embedded system adjusts rotation rates of the two
driving wheels by outputting pulse width modulation (PWM)
signals with different duty cycles. Actual linear and angular
velocities of the WMR are calculated by the rotation rates which
are provided by encoders. Orientation information of the WMR is
obtained by the IMU. The four tags communicate with each other
and transmit position information to the embedded system timely.
Meanwhile, all experimental results are transmitted to the host
computer by wireless communications.
2.2 System modelling
In Fig. 3, a graphical representation of the WMR is shown, {x, o, y}
is a global coordinate frame attached to the ground, {X, Pc, Y} is a
local coordinate frame attached to the WMR, X is the moving
direction and Pc is the mass centre, Po represents a geometrical
centre of the two driving wheels, d represents a distance between
Pc and Po, r and 2b represent a radius of each wheel and a distance
between the driving wheels, respectively.
The WMR is in the global coordinate frame {x, o, y} and θ is an
angle between axes X and x. Note that trajectory tracking
performance of the WMR is affected by uneven ground. Moreover,
the shape of the omnidirectional wheel is not a regular circle due to
an existence of 20 passive rollers. Such a structural characteristic
of the omnidirectional wheel causes external disturbances for the
WMR. Therefore, both the uneven ground and the structural
characteristic of the omnidirectional wheel have to be considered in
a dynamic model of the WMR. In this paper, τd(t) is used to
describe external disturbances.
For the WMR shown in Fig. 3, kinematic and dynamic models
of the WMR are expressed as
IET Control Theory Appl., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 7, pp. 921-929
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020
 q̇(t) = S(q(t))η(t), (1) 1
ν̇(t) = (τ (t) + τr(t)) + dν(t), (8)
mr l
M(q(t))q̈(t) + C(q(t), q̇(t))q̇(t) + G(q(t)) + τd(t)
(2) b
= B(q(t))τ(t) − AT(q(t))λ, ω̇(t) = (τl(t) − τr(t)) + dω(t) . (9)
(J − md 2)r
where q(t) = (x(t), y(t), θ(t))T is the global coordinate vector of the
 
WMR, η(t) = (ν(t), ω(t))T is the actual velocity vector including the Assumption 1: For the linear velocity and angular velocity
actual linear velocity ν(t) and angular velocity ω(t), dynamic models (8)and (9), the external disturbances dν(t) and
τ(t) = (τl(t), τr(t))T is the control torque vector containing the left dω(t) are assumed to be bounded and continuously differentiable.
and right wheel control torques τl(t) and τr(t), G(q(t)) is the Moreover, the derivatives of dν(t) and dω(t) with respect to time are
gravitational vector, λ is the constraint force vector, also assumed to be bounded.
A(q(t)) = ( − sin θ(t) , cos θ(t) , 0) is the kinematic constraint  
vector, M(q(t)) is the symmetric and positive-definite inertia Remark 1: In real world, trajectory tracking performance of the
matrix, C(q(t), q̇(t)) is the centripetal and coriolis matrix, B(q(t)) is WMR is easily deteriorated by external disturbances such as
the input transformation matrix. Let the mass and the inertia friction and air resistance. Note that the friction and air resistance
moment of the WMR be m and J, respectively. It has been shown are always bounded. Moreover, the friction and air resistance are
from [5] that S(q(t)), M(q(t)), C(q(t), q̇(t)) and B(q(t)) are given as continuously differentiable due to that they change smoothly over
time. Therefore, the derivatives of friction and air resistance with
m 0 mdsin θ(t) respect to time are also bounded [27].
M(q(t)) = ⋆ m −mdcos θ(t) ,  
Remark 2: As shown in [28], the kinematic model is used to
⋆ ⋆ J describe position and orientation changes of the WMR. However,
0 0 mdθ̇(t)cos θ(t) the kinematic model does not involve forces acting on the WMR,
C(q(t), q̇(t)) = 0 0 mdθ̇(t)sin θ(t) , such as gravity and friction. Therefore, it is necessary to develop
the dynamic model to describe a relationship between the forces
00 0 and motion characteristics.
cos θ(t) cos θ(t)
1
B(q(t)) = sin θ(t) sin θ(t) , 3 Outer loop control
r
b −b In this paper, a double closed-loop strategy is shown in Fig. 4 for
cos θ(t) 0 trajectory tracking control of the WMR. In an outer loop, position
S(q(t)) = sin θ(t) 0 . and orientation errors in the global coordinate frame are
0 1 transformed in the local coordinate frame by a coordinate
transformation T. Then a kinematic controller based on the
kinematic model is designed to generate desired linear and angular
From the kinematic model (1), it is obtained that
velocities. In an inner loop, a linear TD is introduced to extract
differential signals of the desired velocities. An ESO with a time-
q̈(t) = S(q(t))η̇(t) + Ṡ(q(t))η(t) . (3)
varying gain is designed to estimate the external disturbances
timely. Based on the linear TD, the designed ESO and an ISMC
Substituting equality (3) into the dynamic model (2) and method, a torque control law after a transformation H is obtained to
multiplying the left-hand sides of the dynamic model (2) by guarantee that actual velocities of the WMR keep up with the
ST(q(t)), one has that desired velocities.
In this section, the outer loop is considered to design a
M̄(q(t))η̇(t) + C̄(q(t))η(t) kinematic controller for the WMR. Let qr(t) = (xr(t), yr(t), θr(t))T be
= B̄(q(t))τ(t) + D(q(t)) − ST(q(t))AT(q(t))λ, a global coordinate vector of a given reference trajectory. For the
given reference trajectory, a virtual kinematic model is given as
in which
ẋr(t) = νr(t)cos θr(t) ,
T
M̄(q(t)) = S (q(t))M(q(t))S(q(t)), (4) ẏr(t) = νr(t)sin θr(t) ,
θ̇r(t) = ωr(t),
C̄(q(t)) = ST(q(t))M(q(t))Ṡ(q(t)) + ST(q(t))C(q(t), q̇(t))S(q(t
(5)
)),
where νr(t) and ωr(t) are the virtual linear and angular velocities,
T respectively. Then position and orientation error equations under
B̄(q(t)) = S (q(t))B(q(t)) (6) the global coordinate frame {x, o, y} are obtained as
and xe(t) = xr(t) − x(t),
ye(t) = yr(t) − y(t), (10)
D(q(t)) = − ST(q(t))G(q(t)) − ST(q(t))τd(t) . (7)
θe(t) = θr(t) − θ(t) .
Then it is shown that
For convenience of the kinematic controller design, the position
m 0 1 1 1 and orientation error equations in (10) under the global coordinate
M̄(q(t)) = , B̄(q(t)) = , frame {x, o, y} are transformed in the local coordinate frame
⋆ J − md 2 r b −b
{X, Pc, Y} by a coordinate transformation. One has that
ST(q(t))AT(q(t)) = 0, C̄(q(t)) = 0.
ex(t) cos θ(t) sin θ(t) 0 xe(t)
Note that D(q(t)) = (dν(t), dω(t))T is an external disturbance vector ey(t) = −sin θ(t) cos θ(t) 0 ye(t) . (11)
in which dν(t) and dω(t) are the external disturbances acting on the
eθ(t) 0 0 1 θe(t)
actual linear velocity ν(t) and angular velocity ω(t), respectively.
Then the dynamic model (2) is rewritten as

IET Control Theory Appl., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 7, pp. 921-929 923
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020
By calculating the derivatives of the position and orientation error ex(t)ėx(t) + ey(t)ėy(t) 2
V˙ 1(t) = + ė (t)
equations in (11), it is obtained that 1 + ex2(t) + ey2(t) ky θ
eθ(t) eθ(t)
ėx(t) = ẋr(t) − ẋ(t) cos θ(t) − xe(t)θ̇(t)sin θ(t) × sin cos
2 2
+ ẏr(t) − ẏ(t) sin θ(t) + ye(t)θ̇(t)cos θ(t)
= ω(t)ey(t) − ν(t) + νr(t)cos θr(t) cos θ(t) 1
= (ex(t)(ωK (t)ey(t) − νK (t)
+νr(t)sin θr(t) sin θ(t) 1 + ex2(t) + ey2(t)
= ω(t)ey(t) − ν(t) + νr(t)cos eθ(t) , +νr(t)cos eθ(t) ) + ey(t)( − ωK (t)ex(t) + νr(t)
1
ėy(t) = ẏr(t) − ẏ(t) cos θ(t) − ye(t)θ̇(t)sin θ(t) × sin eθ(t) )) + (ωr(t) − ωK (t))sin eθ(t)
ky
− ẋr(t) − ẋ(t) sin θ(t) − xe(t)θ̇(t)cos θ(t) kxex2(t)
=− − kθsin2 eθ(t) .
= −ω(t)ex(t) + νr(t)sin θr(t) cos θ(t) 1 + ex2(t) + ey2(t)
−νr(t)cos θr(t) sin θ(t)
= −ω(t)ex(t) + νr(t)sin eθ(t) , It is shown that V˙ 1(t) is negative definite when kx > 0 and kθ > 0.
ėθ(t) = ωr(t) − ω(t) . Therefore, it is concluded that the tracking error system (12) is
stable. That is, the kinematic controller (13) is effective, and actual
linear and angular velocities ν(t) and ω(t) track virtual linear and
Then a tracking error system is obtained as
angular velocities νr(t) and ωr(t), respectively. □
ėx(t) = ω(t)ey(t) − ν(t) + νr(t)cos eθ(t) ,
ėy(t) = − ω(t)ex(t) + νr(t)sin eθ(t) , (12)
4 Inner loop control
ėθ(t) = ωr(t) − ω(t) . In this section, a torque control law is designed to track the desired
velocities ηK (t) based on the linear TD, the designed ESO and the
For the tracking error system (12), the kinematic controller is ISMC method. Due to that the angular velocity dynamic model (9)
designed as is similar to the linear velocity one (8), only the linear velocity
dynamic model (8) is considered in the inner loop control for the
νK (t) sake of simplicity.
ηK (t) =
ωK (t)
4.1 Linear TD
νr(t)cos eθ(t) + kxex(t) (13)
In order to extract a differential signal of the desired linear velocity
= kyνr(t)ey(t) ,
ωr(t) + + kykθsin eθ(t) νK (t) effectively, a linear TD is designed as the following form:
2 2
1 + ex(t) + ey(t)
ν̇K 1(t) = νK 2(t), (14)
where νK (t) and ωK (t) are the desired linear and angular velocities
for keeping up with the given reference trajectory, respectively, kx, ν̇K 2(t) = − 2R2(νK 1(t) − νK (t)) − 2RνK 2(t), (15)
ky and kθ are positive adjustable parameters. Effectiveness of the
kinematic controller (13) is shown in the following theorem. where νK 1(t) is the tracking signal of the desired linear velocity
  νK (t), νK 2(t) is the estimation value of a differential signal ν̇K (t) and
Theorem 1: Consider the tracking error system (12) with the R is a positive parameter. Let etd(t) = νK 2(t) − ν̇K (t) be a tracking
kinematic controller (13) for the WMR. If η(t) = ηK (t), then the error of the linear TD. Effectiveness of the linear TD (14) and (15)
tracking error system (12) is stable by choosing appropriate is shown in the following theorem.
positive adjustable parameters kx, ky and kθ. That is, actual linear  
and angular velocities ν(t) and ω(t) track virtual linear and angular Theorem 2: Consider the linear TD (14) and (15). If signals
velocities νr(t) and ωr(t), respectively. νK (t), ν̇K (t) and ν̈K (t) are bounded and the positive parameter R is
  large enough, then the tracking error etd(t) is convergent for any
Proof: A Lyapunov function is constructed as desired linear velocity νK (t).
 
2 2 eθ(t) Proof: Two eigenvalues of the linear TD (14) and (15) are
V 1(t) = 1 + ex2(t) + ey2(t) − 1 + sin .
ky 2 shown as −R + Ri and −R − Ri. A general solution of the linear
TD (14) and (15) is obtained as
Note that the Lyapunov function V 1(t) is positive definite when
ky > 0. According to the tracking error system (12) and the
kinematic controller (13), it is obtained that

Fig. 4  Double closed-loop strategy for trajectory tracking control of the WMR

924 IET Control Theory Appl., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 7, pp. 921-929
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020
 νK 1(t) = e− Rt(C1cos(Rt) + C2sin(Rt)) ė1(t) = e2(t) − α1e1(t), (21)

∫
t (16)
+2R e− R(t − s)sin(Rt − Rs)νK (s)ds . ė2(t) = − α2g(t) e1(t) 1/2
sign(e1(t)) − h(t), (22)
0
^

By differentiating signal νK 1(t) in equality (16), one has that where e2(t) = d ν(t) − dν(t) is the external disturbance estimation
error. Effectiveness of the designed ESO (19) and (20) is shown in
the following theorem.
νK 2(t) = Re− Rt((C2 + C1)sin(Rt) − (C2 − C1)cos(Rt))
 
+2νK (0)Re− Rtsin(Rt) + ν̇K (t)e− Rt(cos(Rt) Theorem 3: Consider the estimation error system (21) and (22).
If there exist two appropriate positive parameters α1 and α2
∫
t
+sin(Rt)) + 2R e− R(t − s)sin(Rt − Rs)ν̇K (s)ds satisfying α2 > (3/4)α12, then the linear velocity estimation error
0
e1(t) and the external disturbance estimation error e2(t) are bounded.
= Re− Rt((C2 + C1)sin(Rt) − (C2 − C1)cos(Rt)) That is, the designed ESO (19) and (20) for the extended system
+2νK (0)Re− Rtsin(Rt) + ν̇K (t) − ν̇K (0)e− Rt (17) and (18) is effective.
 
∫
t
× (cos(Rt) + sin(Rt)) − e− R(t − s) Proof: A Lyapunov function is constructed as
0
3/2
× (sin(Rt − Rs) + cos(Rt − Rs))ν̈K (s) ds V 2(t) = λ1 e1(t) − λ2e1(t)e2(t) + λ3e22(t),

≤ CRe− Rt + 2 νK (0) Re− Rt + 2e− Rt ν̇K (0) where

1

∫
t 2
+2D e−2R(t − s)ds + ν̇K (t) 1 4
λ2 > 0, λ3 > λ, λ > αλ . (23)
0 2α1 2 1 3 2 3
≤ CRe− Rt + 2 νK (0) Re− Rt + 2e− Rt ν̇K (0) 2
It is shown that V 2(t) ≥ λ1 e1(t) − λ2e1(t)e2(t) + λ3e22(t) when the
2D2
+ + ν̇K (t), linear velocity estimation error e1(t) is less than 1. Based on
R
condition α2 > (3/4)α12 and the inequality condition (23), one has
where C and D are the upper bounds of that λ1 > 0, λ2 > 0, λ3 > 0 and λ1λ3 > (1/4)λ22. That is, the Lyapunov
(C2 + C1)sin(Rt) − (C2 − C1)cos(Rt) and ν̈K (t), respectively. It is function V 2(t) is positive definite. It is noted that
noted that
3 1/2
V̇ 2(t) = λ e (t) sign(e1(t)) − λ2e2(t)
etd(t) = νK 2(t) − ν̇K (t) 2 1 1
× (e2(t) − α1e1(t)) + (λ2e1(t) − 2λ3e2(t))
2D2
≤ CRe− Rt + 2 νK (0) Re− Rt + 2Re− Rt ν̇K (0) + . × (h(t) + α2g(t) e1(t) 1/2 sign(e1(t)))
R
3 1/2
= λ1 − 2λ3α2g(t) + λ2α1 e1(t)
Therefore, the tracking error etd(t) is convergent for any desired 2
linear velocity νK (t) when the positive parameter R is large enough. 1/2
3
× e1(t) sign(e1(t))e2(t) − λ1α1 − λ2α2g(t)
□ 2
3/2
× e1(t) + λ2h(t)e1(t) − 2λ3h(t)e2(t) − λ2e22(t)
4.2 ESO with a time-varying gain −(1/4)
3 1/2

Let the external disturbance dν(t) be an extended state. Then the = λ1 − 2λ3α2g(t) + λ2α1 e1(t) e1(t)
2
linear velocity dynamic model (8) is rewritten as 3/4
3
× e1(t) sign(e1(t))e2(t) − λ2e22(t) − λ1α1
2
ν̇(t) = b0u(t) + dν(t), (17)
3/2
−λ2α2g(t) e1(t) + λ2h(t)e1(t) − 2λ3h(t)e2(t),
ḋ ν(t) = h(t), (18)
which is a quadratic function for variables e1(t) 3/4sign(e1(t)) and
where b0 = (1/mr), u(t) = τl(t) + τr(t), and h(t) is the derivative of e2(t). One has that
the external disturbance dν(t). According to Assumption 1, the
external disturbance dν(t) is bounded and continuously V̇ 2(t) = −ψ 1(t) e1(t) 3/2
+ ψ 2(t) e1(t) 3/4
sign(e1(t))e2(t)
differentiable. Moreover, h(t) is also bounded by Assumption 1. 2
−ψ e (t) + λ2h(t)e1(t) − 2λ3h(t)e2(t),
3 2
The designed ESO of the extended system (17) and (18) is
presented as
where ψ 1(t) = (3/2)λ1α1 − λ2α2g(t), ψ 2(t) = e1(t) −(1/4) (3/2)λ1 − 2
˙ ^ λ3α2g(t) + λ2α1 e1(t) 1/2 and ψ 3 = λ2. Based on the inequality
ν^ (t) = d ν(t) − α1e1(t) + b0u(t), (19)
condition (23), it is obtained that
˙^ 1/2
d ν(t) = − α2g(t) e1(t) sign(e1(t)), (20) 3
ψ 1(t) > λ α − λ2α2 > 0,
2 1 1
−(1/4)
^
where ν^ (t) and d ν(t) are the estimation values of ν(t) and dν(t), 3 1/2
ψ 2(t) > e1(t) λ − 2λ3α2 + λ2α1 e1(t) > 0,
2 1
respectively, e1(t) = ν^ (t) − ν(t) is the linear velocity estimation
error, g(t) = (2/π)arctan(εt) is the time-varying function and its ψ 3 = λ2 > 0.
value belongs to an interval [0, 1), α1, α2 and ε are positive 3/2 3/4
parameters. Based on the extended system (17) and (18) and the Let V̇ 21(t) = − ψ 1(t) e1(t) + ψ 2(t) e1(t) sign(e1(t))e2(t) − ψ 3e22(t)
designed ESO (19) and (20), an estimation error system is shown and V̇ 22(t) = − λ2h(t)e1(t) + 2λ3h(t)e2(t). It is shown that V̇ 21(t) is
as negative definite when ψ 22(t) − 4ψ 1(t)ψ 3 < 0. Therefore, one has
that

IET Control Theory Appl., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 7, pp. 921-929 925
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020
 −(1/2)
3 1/2 2 1 ^
e1(t) λ1 − 2λ3α2g(t) + λ2α1 e1(t) u(t) = (ν (t) − d ν(t) + k1fal(e(t))
2 b0 K 2 (26)
3 +k2s(t) + k3sign(s(t))),
< 4λ2 λ1α1 − λ2α2g(t) ,
2
where k2 > 0 and k3 > 0 are tunable parameters. Effectiveness of
it follows that the torque control law (26) is shown in the following theorem.
 
3 1/2 Theorem 4: Consider the piecewise integral sliding mode
λ1 − 2λ3α2g(t) + λ2α1 e1(t) surface (24) and the torque control law (26). By selecting suitable
2
positive parameters k1, k2 and k3, the linear velocity tracking error
1/4
3 e(t) converges to a sufficiently small linear interval in a finite time.
< 2 e1(t) λ2 λ1α1 − λ2α2g(t) .
2 That is, the actual linear velocity ν(t) keeps up with the desired
linear velocity νK (t).
Let x(t) = e1(t) 1/4, a = λ2α1, b = 2 λ2 (3/2)λ1α1 − λ2α2g(t) and  
c = (3/2)λ1 − 2λ3α2g(t), there exists a quadratic function Proof: For the piecewise integral sliding mode surface (24), it
μ(x(t)) = ax2(t) − 2bx(t) + c. It is obtained that a > 0 and the follows from ṡ(t) = 0 that ė(t) + k1fal(e(t)) = 0. If an initial linear
discriminant of the quadratic function μ(x(t)) is satisfied with velocity tracking error e0 is not in a linear interval [ − σ, σ], then
one has that de = − k1 ⋅ e(t) ϱ sign(e(t))dt. It is shown that
Δ = b2 − 4ac = 4λ2α2g(t)(2λ3α1 − λ2) > 0.

∫ e(t) − ϱ
σ
Therefore, there exist solutions for equation μ(x(t)) = 0. When t= − de
e0 k1sign(e(t))
inequalities ((b − b2 − ac)/a) < x(t) < ((b + b2 − ac)/a) hold, 1−ϱ
the quadratic function μ(x(t)) is negative, then inequality V̇ 21(t) < 0 1
= ( e − σ 1 − ϱ) = T max .
holds. k1(1 − ϱ) 0
It is noted that V̇ 2(t) = V̇ 21(t) − V̇ 22(t). V̇ 2(t) is negative definite
Therefore, the maximum time is T max for the linear velocity
in an intersected lower portion region of a parabolic paraboloid
tracking error e(t) converging to the linear interval [ − σ, σ]. A
V̇ 21(t) and a plane V̇ 22(t) by choosing parameters λ1, λ2 and λ3 based
Lyapunov function is chosen as V 3(t) = (1/2)s2(t). It is obtained
on the inequality condition (23). That is, the linear velocity
estimation error e1(t) and the external disturbance estimation error that
e2(t) converge to zero. Moreover, V̇ 2(t) is positive definite in an
V̇ 3(t) = s(t)ṡ(t)
intersected upper portion region of the parabolic paraboloid V̇ 21(t)
= s(t)(ν̇K (t) − b0u(t) − dν(t) + k1fal(e(t)))
and the plane V̇ 22(t). In the intersected upper portion region, the ^
magnitude for the linear velocity estimation error e1(t) is same as = s(t)(ν̇K (t) − νK 2(t) + d ν(t) − k1fal(e(t))
the one for a root of λ2h(t)e1(t) = ψ 1(t) e1(t) 3/2, i.e. −k2s(t) − k3sign(s(t)) − dν(t) + k1fal(e(t)))
e1(t) ≃ (λ2h(t)/ψ 1(t)). Therefore, the linear velocity estimation error = s(t)(etd(t) + e2(t) − k2s(t) − k3sign(s(t))) .
e1(t) is bounded. There exists ė1(t) = 0 when the estimation error
system (21) and (22) is stable. Then the linear velocity estimation Letting l(t) = etd(t) + e2(t) , one has that l(t) is bounded according
error e1(t) and the external disturbance estimation error e2(t) are to Theorems 2 and 3. That is, there exists a positive real number M
satisfied with e2(t) = α1e1(t). Therefore, the external disturbance such that l(t) ≤ M. It is noted that
estimation error e2(t) is also bounded. That is, the designed ESO
(19) and (20) for the extended system (17) and (18) is effective. □ V̇ 3(t) ≤ l(t) s(t) − k2s2(t) − k3 s(t)
(27)
≤ −(k3 − M) s(t) − k2s2(t) .
4.3 Torque control law
A torque control law based on the ISMC method is proposed in this One has V̇ 3(t) < 0 by choosing a suitable parameter k3 such that
subsection. A linear velocity tracking error e(t) between the desired k3 ≥ M. Therefore, the linear velocity tracking error e(t) converges
linear velocity νK (t) and the actual linear velocity ν(t) is set as to a sufficiently small linear interval in a finite-time and the
e(t) = νK (t) − ν(t). The derivative of the linear velocity tracking resulting closed-loop system is asymptotic stable. That is, the
error e(t) is obtained as actual linear velocity ν(t) keeps up with the desired linear velocity
νK (t). □
ė(t) = ν̇K (t) − b0u(t) − dν(t) .  
Remark 3: In this paper, the designed ESO is proposed to
Then a piecewise integral sliding mode surface s(t) for the torque estimate the external disturbances timely. Comparing with an ESO
control law is designed as with a constant gain, the time-varying one reduces peaking values
near an initial time. Moreover, estimate efficiency and accuracy of

∫
t the designed ESO are better than the constant gain ESO.
s(t) = e(t) + k1 f al(e(ϵ))dϵ, (24)  
0
Remark 4: In the proof of Theorem 3, the magnitude of the
linear velocity estimation error e1(t) is same as the one of
where k1 > 0 is a tunable parameter. The derivative of the
(λ2h(t)/ψ 1(t)) in which its value is sufficiently small by adjusting
piecewise integral sliding mode surface (24) is shown as
the positive parameters α1 and α2. Therefore, there exists a positive
ṡ(t) = ν̇K (t) − b0u(t) − dν(t) + k1fal(e(t)) . (25) real number γ such that e1(t) ≤ γ ≤ 1 by choosing appropriate
positive parameters α1 and α2. That is, inequality
2
Based on the linear TD (14) and (15), the designed ESO (19) and V 2(t) ≥ λ1 e1(t) − λ2e1(t)e2(t) + λ3e22(t) is satisfied with and then the
(20) and the piecewise integral sliding mode surface (24), the Lyapunov function V 2(t) is guarantee to be positive definite.
torque control law is obtained as  
Remark 5: In this paper, the double closed-loop strategy is
developed to achieve trajectory tracking control for the WMR. For
the outer loop, Theorem 1 involves designing the kinematic
controller which is used to generate desired linear and angular
926 IET Control Theory Appl., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 7, pp. 921-929
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Fig. 5  Trajectory tracking experiment in outdoors
Fig. 6  Estimation results of differential signals
Fig. 7  Estimation values of the external disturbances
velocities. For the inner loop, Theorems 2–4 are developed to
design the linear TD, ESO and torque control law, respectively.
The inner loop strategy is used to generate reasonable control
torques for driving wheels to guarantee that actual linear and
angular velocities keep up with the desired ones. That is, the
trajectory tracking control is achieved for the WMR by an
interaction of the outer loop and inner loop strategies.
 
Remark 6: In this paper, the external disturbances are caused by
uneven ground and an omnidirectional wheel, which are estimated
by the designed ESO effectively. To improve a convergence rate of
trajectory tracking control, an ISMC method is utilised to integrate
with the designed ESO. By the control method developed in this
paper, desired disturbance rejection and convergence performance
is guaranteed for the WMR. Note that other robust control methods
such as internal model design [29] can also be used to deal with
IET Control Theory Appl., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 7, pp. 921-929
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020
Table 1 Main parameters of the proposed strategy in this
paper
R α1 α2 ε b0 k1 k2 k3 ϱ σ
ν 10 12 150 0.1 3.5 4 50 12 0.5 0.01
ω 10 8 50 0.3 1.0 6 75 13 0.5 0.01
Fig. 8  Estimation values ν^(t) and ω^ (t)
tracking or disturbance rejection problems. However, comparing
with the internal model design, an integration of the ESO and the
ISMC has more advantages such as fast convergence rate and
excellent robustness.
5 Experiment and results
As shown in Fig. 5, a trajectory tracking experiment of the WMR
on uneven ground is carried out to demonstrate effectiveness and
superiority of the proposed double closed-loop strategy in this
paper. In order to make a control torque generated by the torque
control law to adjust rotation rates of driving wheels, the control
torque is treated as the duty cycle of a PWM signal.
In the experiment, a given reference trajectory is a circle with a
radius 2 m in a horizontal plane. An initial position and orientation
of the given reference trajectory is set as
(xr(0), yr(0), θr(0)) = (3.60, 2.00, 0). Virtual linear and angular
velocities are set as νr = 0.4 m/s and ωr = 0.2 rad/s, respectively.
The initial position and orientation of the WMR is shown as
(x(0), y(0), θ(0)) = (2.41, 1.76, 0). Based on Theorem 1, adjustable
parameters of the kinematic controller (13) are chosen as kx = 2,
ky = 5 and kθ = 2. Moreover, main parameters for the linear TD
(14) and (15), the designed ESO (19) and (20) and the torque
control law (26) are listed in Table 1 by Theorems 2–4.
Estimation results of the linear TD (14) and (15) are shown in
Fig. 6. It is shown that differential signals of the desired linear
velocity νK (t) and the desired angular velocity ωK (t) are reasonably
extracted by the linear TD (14) and (15). Estimation values of the
external disturbances are shown in Fig. 7 by the designed ESO (19)
and (20). Furthermore, estimation values of the actual linear
velocity ν(t) and angular velocity ω(t) are given in Fig. 8. Due to
that the initial position of the WMR is not on the given reference
trajectory, there exist a sharp velocity fluctuation in the initial
stage. It is shown from Fig. 8 that the estimation values ν^ (t) and
ω^ (t) track the actual linear velocity ν(t) and angular velocity ω(t)
well, respectively, even if there exist the sharp velocity fluctuation
in the trajectory tracking experiment. That is, effectiveness of the
designed ESO (19) and (20) in this paper is demonstrated by Figs.
7 and 8. The control torques of left and right driving wheels are
shown in Fig. 9, in which the control torques still tend to be stable
under the external disturbances.
In order to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed strategy,
comparative results of the tracking trajectory are given in Fig. 10
between the proposed double closed-loop strategy in this paper and
the one in [30]. As shown in Fig. 10, the resulting tracking
927
 Fig. 12  y-coordinate tracking error comparative result
Fig. 9  Control torques of the left and right driving wheels

Fig. 13  Orientation tracking error comparative result

Fig. 10  Comparative results of the tracking trajectory
paper and the one in [30]. The standard deviations of the x-
coordinate and the y-coordinate tracking errors in this paper are
smaller. Moreover, the standard deviation of the orientation
tracking error in [30] is about three times that of this paper. There
exist smaller fluctuations for the tracking errors generated by the
double closed-loop strategy than the one in [30], which means the
superiority of a disturbance rejection ability for the trajectory
tracking control of WMR.
A trajectory tracking simulation is carried out to further
demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed double closed-loop
strategy in this paper. Note that the given reference trajectory, the
initial position and orientation are all consistent in the simulation
and the experiment. In the simulation, physical parameters of the
WMR are set as m = 4.5 kg, d = 0.2 m, r = 0.0635 m, b = 0.166 m
and J = 0.25 kg ⋅ m2. The external disturbance is set as
τd(t) = sin(t) + cos(t), sin(t) + cos(t), sin(t) + cos(t) T. The
sampling time of the simulation is 0.01 s. A simulated result of the
trajectory tracking simulation is shown in Fig. 14.
Fig. 11  x-coordinate tracking error comparative result

Table 2 Standard deviations of the tracking errors 6 Conclusion

x-coordinate y-coordinate Orientation In this paper, a double closed-loop strategy has been proposed to
error, m error, m error, rad achieve accurate trajectory tracking for a WMR with an
Chen [28] 0.37 0.07 1.14 omnidirectional wheel on uneven ground. In an outer loop, a
this paper 0.25 0.06 0.35
kinematic controller has been designed to generate desired linear
and angular velocities for the WMR. In an inner loop, a linear TD
is developed to extract reasonable differential signals of the desired
velocities. An ESO with a time-varying gain has been introduced to
trajectory based on the proposed double closed-loop strategy is obtain an estimation value of external disturbances. Moreover, a
closer to the given reference trajectory than the one in [30]. The x- torque control law has been designed to guarantee actual linear and
coordinate, the y-coordinate and the orientation tracking error angular velocities to keep up with the desired ones based on the
comparative results are shown in Figs. 11–13, respectively. linear TD, the designed ESO and an ISMC method. All the
Standard deviations of the tracking errors are shown in Table 2 experiment results have demonstrated that the proposed double
resulting from the proposed double closed-loop strategy in this closed-loop strategy is effective. Furthermore, a simulation has

928 IET Control Theory Appl., 2020, Vol. 14 Iss. 7, pp. 921-929
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2020

Fig. 14  Simulated result of the trajectory tracking simulation
been carried out to verify the rationality of the experiment. In order
to further improve disturbance rejection abilities of the WMR,
some researches on trajectory tracking control will be investigated
for the WMR via a fixed-time control strategy in the further work.
7 Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grant 61973230 and Grant 61733012.
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