A Path-Following Controller for a UAV-UGV Formation Performing the Final Step of Last-Mile-Delivery

Abstract

This work discusses the accomplishment of a path-following task by a formation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV). The idea behind such an application is that the UAV is returning after delivering a package, and should land on the UGV, its reference base, which continues following its route towards another delivery. A high level controller based on the virtual structure paradigm is designed to guide the formation, which also includes an obstacle avoidance algorithm to handle the possibility that the UGV, the reference for the formation, faces an obstacle in its path, such as another vehicle, for instance. After describing in details the controller designed and the obstacle avoidance algorithm, simulated and experimental results are shown and discussed, which validate the proposed controller.

Keywords

• Heterogeneous formation
• mobile robotics
• multi-robot systems
• obstacle avoidance
• path-following controller