Leader-follower Strategy based on Distance and Heading Angles using Local Vision

This paper presents a leader-follower motion coordination strategy of an omnidirectional robot with mecanum wheels and a differential-drive robot. The follower robot is formed with respect to the leader robot using a local vision system to measure its relative distance and heading angle. Given that the sensing range of the camera is bounded, the leader robot, which has better motion capabilities, follows a desired trajectory in the plane, while converging to the follower’s angle using a consensus approach. The performance of the control strategy is evaluated in an experimental setup composed by two industrial-focused robots and a motion capture system.