Decentralized adaptive control of nonholonomic mechanical systems

This paper considers the problem of controlling the motion of nonholonomic mechanical systems in the presence of incomplete information concerning the system model and state, and presents a class of decentralized adaptive controllers as a solution to this problem. The proposed control strategies provide simple and robust solutions to a number of important :nonholonomic system control problems, including stabilization to an equilibrium manifold, motion control to an equilibrium point, and trajectory tracking control. All of the schemes are computationally efficient, are implementable without system dynamic model or rate information, and ensure uniform boundedness of all signals and accurate motion control. Computer simulation results are provided to complement the theoretical developments. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.