Pose control of rigid bodies with a distance-dependent communication topology *

The pose control problem of rigid bodies is concerned with designing control laws such that their positions and attitudes reach a desired shape. This paper considers the pose control problem of moving rigid bodies communicating via a distance-dependent interaction network. The focus is on a class of poses where the inter-distances of the rigid bodies maintain a predefined rigid formation while their attitudes tend to the same. In the design of control laws for each rigid body, the finite-time control and potential function techniques are used. The key in the analysis lies in the coupling relationship between positions and attitudes of all rigid bodies. Some convergence results on the pose synchronization, rigidity formation maintenance and local convergence of rigidity formations are established.