Nonlinear swing-down control of the Acrobot: Analysis and optimal gain design

In this paper, we address the swing-down control of the Acrobot, a two-link planar robot operating in a vertical plane with only the second joint being actuated. The control objective is to rapidly stabilize the Acrobot around the downward equilibrium point, with both links in the downward position, from almost all initial states. Under the conditions of no friction and measurability of only the angle and angular velocity of the actuated joint, we present a sinusoidal-derivative (SD) controller. This controller consists of a linear feedback of the sinusoidal function of the angle of the actuated joint and a linear feedback of its angular velocity. We prove that the control objective is achieved if the sinusoidal gain is greater than a negative constant and the derivative gain is positive. We establish crucial relationships between the relative stability of the Acrobot under the SD controller and its physical parameters, presenting analytically all optimal control gains. These gains minimize the real parts of the dominant poles of the linearized model of the resulting closed-loop system around the downward equilibrium point. We demonstrate that the resulting dominant closed-loop poles can be double complex conjugate poles, or a quadruple real pole, or a triple real pole, depending on the Acrobot's physical parameters. Simulation studies indicate that the proposed SD controller outperforms the derivative (D) controller in rapidly stabilizing the Acrobot at the downward equilibrium point.