Visual-servoed parking with limited view angle

In this paper the problem of stabilizing a wheeled vehicle of unicycle type to a set point, using only visual feedback, is considered. The practically most relevant problem of keeping the tracked features in sight of the camera while maneuvering to park the vehicle is taken into account. This constraint, often neglected in the literature, combines with the nonholonomic nature of the vehicle kinematics in a challenging controller design problem. We provide an effective solution to such problem by using a combination of previous results on non-smooth control synthesis, and recently developed hybrid control techniques. Simulations and experimental results on a laboratory vehicle are reported, showing the practicality of the proposed approach.