Path Following Control for Tractor-Trailer Mobile Robot Based on Virtual Desired Path

This paper addresses the problem of path following control for tractor-trailer mobile robot (TTMR). Firstly, for several kinds of normal real desired paths (RDP), we design a scheme to construct virtual desired paths (VDP) such that all the bodies of TTMR will array on both sides of the RDP symmetrically and closely when the tractor follows the VDP instead of the RDP. In such a way, the width of the road covered by the whole system will decrease. Secondly, a new control strategy in which the tractor is controlled to follow the VDP is proposed based on the Lyapunov method. The simulation results show the validity and the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.