Observer‐based adaptive time‐varying bipartite formation tracking of multi‐agent systems with multiple nonautonomous leaders

Abstract In this article, the problem of bipartite time‐varying formation (BTVF) tracking for multi‐agent systems (MASs) under signed digraphs is investigated, in which the inputs of leaders are unknown and bounded. A novel kind of adaptive nonsmooth BTVF tracking protocol for MASs is proposed that did not utilize eigenvalue of Laplacian matrix. Based on the state observer, the problem that the system states are not measurable is solved. In addition, in order to avoid undesirable chattering caused by leaders' nonzero inputs, continuous protocols are proposed. And in this case, the error is uniformly ultimately bounded. Lyapunov method reflects the convergence analysis of the submitted protocols. At last, the desired theoretical results are achieved on a multirobot system.