This article presents a comparison of four nonlinear controllers for positioning tasks of a unicycle-like mobile robot. The controller performance is analyzed through three indexes: IAE, ITAE and IASC. The analysis is performed experimentally. Initially, the controller gains are tuned by simulation until IAE index is less than 5% comparatively. Next, the controllers are run in practice and ITAE and IASC indexes are analyzed. The objectives are to analyze the convergence time to the desired goal and the energy consumption for the mission accomplishment. The controller stability is demonstrated in the sense of Lyapunov and validated experimentally.