Horizontal Connection and Horizontal Mean Curvature in Carnot Groups

In this paper we give a geometric interpretation of the notion of the horizontal mean curvature which is introduced by Danielli Garofalo-Nhieu and Pauls who recently introduced sub- Riemannian minimal surfaces in Carnot groups. This will be done by introducing a natural nonholonomic connection which is the restriction （projection） of the natural Riemannian connection on the horizontal bundle. For this nonholonomic connection and （intrinsic） regular hypersurfaces we introduce the notions of the horizontal second fundamental form and the horizontal shape operator. It turns out that the horizontal mean curvature is the trace of the horizontal shape operator.     

Dirac reduction for nonholonomic mechanical systems and semidirect products

This paper develops the theory of Dirac reduction by symmetry for nonholonomic systems on Lie groups with broken symmetry. The reduction is carried out for the Dirac structures, as well as for the associated Lagrange–Dirac and Hamilton–Dirac dynamical systems. This reduction procedure is accompanied by reduction of the associated variational structures on both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian sides. The reduced dynamical systems obtained are called the implicit Euler–Poincaré–Suslov equations with advected parameters and the implicit Lie–Poisson–Suslov equations with advected parameters. The theory is illustrated with the help of finite and infinite dimensional examples. It is shown that equations of motion for second order Rivlin–Ericksen fluids can be formulated as an infinite dimensional nonholonomic system in the framework of the present paper.     

Topological monodromy as an obstruction to Hamiltonization of nonholonomic systems: Pro or contra?

The phenomenon of a topological monodromy in integrable Hamiltonian and nonholonomic systems is discussed. An efficient method for computing and visualizing the monodromy is developed. The comparative analysis of the topological monodromy is given for the rolling ellipsoid of revolution problem in two cases, namely, on a smooth and on a rough plane. The first of these systems is Hamiltonian, the second is nonholonomic. We show that, from the viewpoint of monodromy, there is no difference between the two systems, and thus disprove the conjecture by Cushman and Duistermaat stating that the topological monodromy gives a topological obstruction for Hamiltonization of the rolling ellipsoid of revolution on a rough plane.     

Hamel’s paradox and the foundations of analytical dynamics

This paper deals with an explanation of a paradox posed by Hamel in his 1949 book on Theoretical Mechanics. The explanation deals with the foundations of mechanics and points to new insights into analytical dynamics.     

A switched controller for an underactuated underwater vehicle

We present a switched control law for stabilizing an underactuated underwater vehicle (UUV) moving in a horizontal plane in a neutrally buoyant condition. The control law consists of a sequential series of control actions, each of which achieves a certain objective, finally resulting in the system being moved to the origin. Finite-time controllers are employed at each stage to achieve the desired objective. Simulation results are presented to validate the control law.     

Constrained Minimum-Time-Oriented Feedback Control for the Stabilization of Nonholonomic Systems in Chained Form

In this paper, a discontinuous state-feedback law is proposed for the stabilization of nonholonomic systems in power form. The feedback law is based on a receding-horizon strategy in which the open-loop optimization problem is a minimum-time steering process. Suboptimal formulations are used explicitly to meet the real-time implementability requirements. Stability is established in a sampled-data context and illustrative simulations are given to show the effectiveness and the real-time implementability of the proposed scheme.     

On stability of stationary motion of a nonconservative nonholonomic rheonomic system

One considers, in this paper, the motion of a mechanical system in a nonstationary field of potential and positional forces, subject to the action of rheonomic holonomic and nonholonomic linear homogeneous constraints. Assuming that differential equations of motion of the system considered satisfy the conditions for the existence of Painlevé's integral of energy, formulated in [Painlevé, P., 1897. Leçons sur l'intégration des équations de la Mécanique, Paris] and [Appell, P., 1911. Traité de mécanique rationnelle, T. II, Dynamique des systémes – Mécanique analitique, Gauthier-Villars, Paris] and generalized in [Čović, V., Vesković, M., 2004. On stability of motion of a rheonomic system in the field of potential and positional forces, BAMM-1720/2004, No-2233, 93–100] and [Čović, V., Vesković, M., 2005. Hagedorn's theorem in some special cases of rheonomic systems. Mechanics Research Communications 32 (3), 265–280], the original mechanical system is substituted by an equivalent one whose Lagrangian function, nontransformed with respect to nonholonomic constraints, does not depend on time explicitly. Using the properties of the equivalent system, which, in contrast to the original one, moves in a stationary field of potential forces and in a nonstationary field of gyroscopic forces, the definition of cyclic coordinates is generalized, as well as sufficient conditions for the existence of (cyclic) first integrals, corresponding to coordinates mentioned and linear in velocities are established. Further, the conditions for the existence of steady motion of the system considered are found. In the case of existence of such a motion of the system, the Theorem of Routh's type on stability of that motion, based on the minimum of reduced potential for which it is shown that, in contrast to known cases (see, for example, [Gantmacher, F., 1975. Lectures in Analytical Mechanics. Mir Publisher, Moscow; Neimark, J., Fufaev, N., 1972. Dynamics of Nonholonomic Systems. Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI; Pars, L., 1962. An Introduction to Calculus of Variations. Heinemann, London; Karapetyan, A., Rumyantsev, V., 1983. Stability of conservative and dissipative systems. In: Itogi Nauki I Tekhniki: Obschaya Mekh., vol. 6, VINITI, Moscow, pp. 3–128 (in Russian)]), it includes the influence of the positional forces field, is formulated. Thus, the Routh's Theorem on stability of steady motion of a conservative mechanical system is extended to the case of a nonconservative system.     

Integrable nonholonomic deformation of modified Volterra lattice equation

The modified Volterra lattice equation with nonholonomic constrain has been considered in this paper. The integrability of the deformed model has been demonstrated by providing a Lax pair. Applying the gauge transformation to the Lax pair, we establish Darboux transformation theorem for the nonholonomic deformation equation. Some analytic solutions of the system are obtained via the one-fold and two-fold Darboux transformations. The deformation on explicit solutions exhibits different curvy profiles and propagation trajectories that were not found in modified Volterra lattice equation.     

Quantized-states-based adaptive control against unknown slippage effects of uncertain mobile robots with input and state quantization

An adaptive tracking design strategy based on quantized state feedback is developed for uncertain nonholonomic mobile robots with unknown wheel slippage effects. All state variables and control torques are assumed to be quantized by the state and input quantizers, respectively, in a network control environment. Thus, the quantized state feedback information is only available for the tracking control design. An approximation-based adaptive controller using quantized states is recursively designed to ensure the robust adaptive tracking against unknown wheel slippage effects where the quantized-states-based adaptive mechanism is derived to compensate for unknown wheel slippage effects, system nonlinearities, and quantization errors. The boundedness of the quantization errors and estimated parameters in the closed-loop system is analyzed by presenting some theoretical lemmas. Based on these lemmas, we prove the uniform ultimate boundedness of closed-loop signals and the convergence of the trajectory tracking error in the presence of wheel slippage effects. Simulations verify the effectiveness of the resulting tracking scheme.