| Abstract: | This article addresses a tracking controller design for a trailer system consisting of a steering tractor and a passive trailer linked with a rigid free joint and having nonholonomic constraints. We design the tracking controller using the Lyapunov direct method, for both forward and backward driving of the trailer system. Backward driving is unstable, and thus is more difficult than forward driving. In previous research, we proposed a globally asymptotically stable (GAS) tracking control for forward driving of a trailer system with nonholonomic constraints. In this article, we implement the GAS tracking controller for forward and backward driving, and perform experiments using visual feedback and remote control systems. The experimental results represent stable responses and demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
