Coordinated Control of Networked Mechanical Systems with Unstable Dynamics
Sujit Nair, Naomi Ehrich Leonard and Luc Moreau
42nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control,
2003
In this paper we present a coordinating control law for a
network of mechanical systems with unstable dynamics. The control
law is derived using the Method of Controlled Lagrangians together
with potential shaping designed to couple the mechanical systems.
The coupled system is Lagrangian with symmetry, and energy methods
are used to prove stability and coordinated behavior. The class of
mechanical systems we consider includes the planar inverted
pendulum on a cart as well as the spherical inverted pendulum on a
2D cart. For these examples, the control law stabilizes each
inverted pendulum and coordinates the relative motion of the
carts.