This dissertation focuses on distributed cooperative control of multi-agent systems. First, the leader-following consensus for multi-agent systems with nonlinear dynamics is investigated. Three consensus algorithms are proposed and some sufficient conditions are obtained for the states of followers converging to the state of virtual leader globally exponentially. Second, the consensus tracking for multi-agent systems with nonlinear dynamics is investigated. Some consensus tracking algorithms are developed, and some sufficient conditions are obtained. Based on these consensus tracking algorithms and sufficient conditions, it is shown that in first-order multi-agent systems all followers can track the virtual leader in finite time, and in second-order multi-agent systems the consensus tracking can be achieved at least globally exponentially. Third, the path planning and motion control of multi-agent formation is studied, where a practical framework is provided. In order to find a collision-free and deadlock-free feasible path for the whole formation, an optimizing algorithm is given to optimize the path generated by A* search algorithm. In order to realize the cohesive motion of a persistent formation in 3-dimensional space, a set of decentralized control laws is designed. Finally, the formation keeping problem is studied. We mainly focus on the closing ranks problem, which deals with the addition of links to a rigid multi-agent formation that is “damaged" by losing one of its agents, in order to recover rigidity. Some graph theoretical results are obtained, and some systematic ’self-repair’ operations are proposed to recover the rigidity in case of agent removals
