Abstract
This paper describes a novel approach in formation control for mobile robots. Here, a Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller (NMPC) is used to maintain the formation of three omnidirectional mobile robots. The details of the controller structure are presented as well as its functionality in a soccer robot team. Three Middle Size League Robots are used for evaluation. A case of study based in a soccer robot situation is presented, developed, and implemented to evaluate the performance of the controller. Simulations results are presented and discussed.

Abstract
This paper describes a novel approach in formation control for mobile robots. A Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller (NMPC) is used to control the formation of a heterogeneous mobile robots group. The desired formation is formed by an holonomic robot and a nonholonomic robot. The same nonlinear controller is used in both robots with the same cost function. The details of the controller structure are presented in order to track a fixed target departing from different positions in the field avoiding collisions with each other. A soccer robot competition field is used to present the simulations to evaluate the performance of the controller. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Abstract
The area of object/people location consists on the identification of their instantaneous movement in a given area of space and during a given time frame. This location takes an important role because it can help rectify trajectories (in the case of autonomous objects) or improve the performance (in the case of sport practices). In this research project, a system based on RFID that automatically rectifies a location and calculates a wheelchair trajectory in a pre-defined route will be presented. For that, a commercial location system was used as well as a wheelchair and two routes: a linear one and a complex route. In order to correct the trajectory a low pass filter was also used. The obtained results showed that this approach decreased 38% of the mean squared error and in more than 7 centimeters the maximum error. In the future this research work will be enclosed in a new project where a multi agent system capable of executing a management of an autonomous wheelchair set in a hospital environment will be developed. © 2011 AISTI.

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract
Fractional Calculus (FC) goes back to the beginning of the theory of differential calculus. Nevertheless, the application of FC just emerged in the last two decades. It has been recognized the advantageous use of this mathematical tool in the modelling and control of many dynamical systems. Having these ideas in mind, this paper discusses a FC perspective in the study of the dynamics and control of several systems. The paper investigates the use of FC in the fields of controller tuning, legged robots, electrical systems and digital circuit synthesis.