The stabilization of program motions of controlled nonlinear mechanical systems

We consider a controlled nonlinear mechanical system described by the Lagrange equations. We determine the control forcesQ ₁ and the restrictions for the perturbationsQ ₂ acting on the mechanical system which allow to guarantee the asymptotic stability of the program motion of the system. We solve the problem of stabilization by the direct Lyapunov's method and the method of limiting functions and systems. In this case we can use the Lyapunov's functions having nonpositive derivatives. The following examples are considered: stabilization of program motions of mathematical pendulum with moving point of suspension and stabilization of program motions of rigid body with fixed point.