  This paper proposes a novel distributed coverage controller for a multi-agent
system with constant-speed unicycle robots (CSUR). The work is motivated by the
limitation of the conventional method that does not ensure the satisfaction of
hard state- and input-dependent constraints and leads to feasibility issues for
multi-CSUR systems. In this paper, we solve these problems by designing a novel
coverage cost function and a saturated gradient-search-based control law.
Invariant set theory and Lyapunov-based techniques are used to prove the
state-dependent confinement and the convergence of the system state to the
optimal coverage configuration, respectively. The controller is implemented in
a distributed manner based on a novel communication standard among the agents.
A series of simulation case studies are conducted to validate the effectiveness
of the proposed coverage controller in different initial conditions and with
control parameters. A comparison study in simulation reveals the advantage of
the proposed method in terms of avoiding infeasibility. The experiment study
verifies the applicability of the method to real robots with uncertainties. The
development procedure of the method from theoretical analysis to experimental
validation provides a novel framework for multi-agent system coordinate control
with complex agent dynamics.
