Robust tube-based predictive control for mobile robots in off-road conditions

This paper focuses on the design of a tube-based Model Predictive Control law for the control of constrained mobile robots in off-road conditions with longitudinal slip while ensuring robustness and stability. A time-varying trajectory tracking error model is used, where uncertainties are assumed to be bounded and additive. The robust tube-based MPC is compared with other motion control techniques through simulation and physical experiments. These tests show the satisfactory behavior of the presented control strategy. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.