Digital Twin-Based Physical–Virtual Synchronization Control for a Carlike Mobile Robot Under Communication Delays

In this article, physical–virtual synchronization control is investigated for a carlike mobile robot (CLMR) based on a digital twin (DT) system under communication delays. The DT system is composed of a physical CLMR, a virtual CLMR, data processing, and application service. A predictive control scheme is proposed based on an extended state observer in integral sliding mode control to generate predicted states for handling communication delays and aggregate disturbances, which enables motion mapping on a DT error system between the physical CLMR and the virtual CLMR. Sufficient condition and optimal controller gain are presented for the tracking error system to achieve stability under communication delays. Superiority and effectiveness of the physical–virtual synchronization control method are demonstrated through experimental results.