Consensus Algorithm for Multiagent Systems With Nonuniform Communication Delays and Its Application to Nonholonomic Robot Rendezvous

This article presents new distributed consensus algorithms for higher order multiagent systems with mismatched uncertainties on general directed graphs. The developed algorithm enjoys the intriguing attribute of accommodating nonuniform communication delays and relies on minimal information from the neighboring agents, namely, their output states. Specifically, by exploiting the interplay of tools from the Laplace transformation and algebraic graph theory, we demonstrate that with the developed distributed algorithm, all agents reach consensus, while the boundedness of all closed-loop signals remains unchanged. In addition, we apply the developed algorithm to tackle the rendezvous control problem for networked nonholonomic mobile robots with unknown dynamic parameters. We also show that by properly tuning the design parameters, the rendezvous errors of the entire system can be made as small as desired. Comparative simulations are performed to illustrate and validate the algorithms.