Fixed-time formation behavior control for Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Manipulators

Fixed-time formation behavior control for Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Manipulators | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Fixed-time formation behavior control for Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Manipulators Wenyan Xue, Wenjin Lu, Xiangzi Zhang, Houmin Wang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7296524/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper proposes a fixed-time formation behavior control (Fixed-FBC) method for Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Manipulators (UGVMs) operating under strongly coupled nonlinear dynamics and external disturbances in static obstacle environments. The proposed solution first develops a nonholonomic null-space behavioral control (N-NSBC) framework that incorporates fixed-time control strategies to transform the multi-objective coordination problem into a single-objective tracking control task, simultaneously guaranteeing fixed-time convergence of task errors while inherently avoiding local minima through exploitation of the system's nonholonomic characteristics. Subsequently, the study then designs an adaptive fixed-time tracking controller for each UGVM, equipped with an adaptive term that provides real-time dynamic compensation for both external disturbances and uncertain nonlinear dynamics, thereby ensuring all UGVMs achieve fixed-time convergence to the desired formation while maintaining obstacle avoidance. Finally, comprehensive simulation studies validate the efficacy of the proposed Fixed-FBC method, demonstrating a $76%$ reduction in settling time while reliably escaping local minima, significantly outperforming conventional approaches. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Manipulators Fixed-time control Formation behavior control Adaptive tracking controller Obstacle Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Rawdata.zip Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 29 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 09 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Aug, 2025 Reviews received at journal 19 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Aug, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 13 Aug, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 13 Aug, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 07 Aug, 2025 First submitted to journal 07 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7296524","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":502445527,"identity":"cdb21687-2b6f-4c72-ae9e-d17b5ceaeabf","order_by":0,"name":"Wenyan Xue","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guangdong Ocean University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenyan","middleName":"","lastName":"Xue","suffix":""},{"id":502445528,"identity":"159a048b-8936-4914-837b-eccbc872bd8f","order_by":1,"name":"Wenjin Lu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Fuzhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenjin","middleName":"","lastName":"Lu","suffix":""},{"id":502445529,"identity":"1c639198-1143-4659-b28d-ae027b979a51","order_by":2,"name":"Xiangzi Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Northwest Normal University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiangzi","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":502445530,"identity":"a9ca1d2b-da6f-47f1-ba88-3f7426ca09df","order_by":3,"name":"Houmin Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACAwhlw8BwAESzEa8ljXQth0nQYi52xvBzwa/zdn3HewwYPpQdZuCf3YBfi+XsHGPpmX23k2eeOWPAOOPcYQaJOwcIOOx27gZp3p7byQY3cgyYedsOMxhIJBDUsvk3b885iJa/RGrZJs3z44AdWAsjcVryv1nzNiQnSJ45VnCw51w6j8QNglrSkm/z/LGz5zvevPHBjzJrOf4ZBLSAAWMbQ2IDAyRqeIhQDwJ/GOyJVDkKRsEoGAUjEQAAQlRJCLajZDoAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Guangdong Ocean University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Houmin","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-08-05 05:23:47","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7296524/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7296524/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43223-2","type":"published","date":"2026-03-29T16:08:45+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105906404,"identity":"b7bd3a21-083e-4cf2-ab72-d518a24fb6e9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-01 10:21:02","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":9160389,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Titlelabel17revised.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7296524/v1_covered_22eadea3-a896-450e-adbc-0d0ccfa12394.pdf"},{"id":89515278,"identity":"842297c2-505b-4b24-b534-0897347af135","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-20 19:35:47","extension":"zip","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":38702707,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Rawdata.zip","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7296524/v1/29ce60990ad7bf294892e6f1.zip"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Fixed-time formation behavior control for Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Manipulators","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Manipulators, Fixed-time control, Formation behavior control, Adaptive tracking controller, Obstacle","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7296524/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7296524/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This paper proposes a fixed-time formation behavior control (Fixed-FBC) method for Unmanned Ground Vehicle-Manipulators (UGVMs) operating under strongly coupled nonlinear dynamics and external disturbances in static obstacle environments. 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