Trajectory Tracking Control via Backstepping-Based Sliding Motion Controller for Multi-Robots

Maintaining stable and efficient formation in multi-robot systems is a challenging task, especially under communication time delays and system nonlinearities. This paper addresses these difficulties by proposing a novel backstepping-based sliding mode controller (BSMC) within a leader-follower framework. The control strategy transforms the formation control problem into a trajectory tracking problem, reducing computational complexity and minimizing information requirements. To further improve robustness, a double power reaching law is introduced to suppress chattering and enhance stability. The proposed method is validated through real-world experiments, demonstrating superior performance in formation maintenance and switching compared to existing approaches in terms of efficiency, convergence, and robustness.