Robust Control Barrier Function Design for High Relative Degree Systems: Application to Unknown Moving Obstacle Collision Avoidance

In safety-critical control, managing safety constraints with high relative degrees and uncertain obstacle dynamics pose significant challenges in guaranteeing safety performance. Robust Control Barrier Functions (RCBFs) offer a potential solution, but the non-smoothness of the standard RCBF definition can pose a challenge when dealing with multiple derivatives in high relative degree problems. As a result, the definition was extended to the marginally more conservative smooth Robust Control Barrier Functions (sRCBF). Then, by extending the sRCBF framework to the CBF backstepping method, this paper offers a novel approach to these problems. Treating obstacle dynamics as disturbances, our approach reduces the requirement for precise state estimations of the obstacle to an upper bound on the disturbance, which simplifies implementation and enhances the robustness and applicability of CBFs in dynamic and uncertain environments. Then, we validate our technique through an example problem in which an agent, modeled using a kinematic unicycle model, aims to avoid an unknown moving obstacle. The demonstration shows that the standard CBF backstepping method is not sufficient in the presence of a moving obstacle, especially with unknown dynamics. In contrast, the proposed method successfully prevents the agent from colliding with the obstacle, proving its effectiveness.