Adaptive Techniques for Mechanical Systems

Strict Lyapunov functions are constructed for a class of nonlinear feedback compensated mechanical systems, requiring no à priori information concerning the initial conditions of the closed-looped system. These Lyapunov functions may be used to design a stable adaptive version of the "computed-torque" algorithm for tracking a reference trajectory. A particular Lyapunov function is then generalized to permit an adaptive version of control scheme forced by reference dynamics rather than reference trajectory. Comments Reprinted from Fifth Yale Workshop on Applications of Adaptive Systems Theory, May 1987, pages 259-265. NOTE: At the time of publication, author Daniel Koditschek was affiliated with Yale University. Currently, he is a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. This conference paper is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/ese_papers/416