Cette thèse traite de la question du contrôle du mouvement d'engins non-holonomes et sous-actionnés évoluant de manière coordonnée et autonome. Les différentes approches considérées sont le suivi de trajectoire (Trajectory Tracking TT) et le suivi de chemin (path following PF). Une nouvelle méthode de contrôle est proposée. Dénommée Path-Tracking (PT), elle permet de cumuler les avantages de chacune des deux précédentes méthodes, permettant de cumuler la souplesse de la convergence induite par le suivi de chemin avec le respect des contraintes temporelles du suivi de trajectoire. L'étude et la réalisation de la commande démarre avec l'étude du cas du robot nonholonome de type Unicycle' et se base sur les principes de Lyapunov' et de Backstepping'. Ces premiers résultats sont ensuite étendus au cas d'un véhicule sous-marin sous-actionné de type AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle'), en analysant les similarités cinématiques entre ces deux types de véhicules. De plus, il est montré la nécessité de prendre en compte les propriétés dynamiques du système de type AUV, et la condition de Stern dominancy' est établie de façon à garantir que le problème est bien posé et ainsi que la commande soit aisément calculable. Dans la cas d'un système marin sur-actionné, qui peut ainsi effectuer des tâches de navigation au long cours et de positionnement désiré (Station keeping'), une commande hybride est proposée. Enfin, la question du contrôle coordonné d'une formation d'engins marin est abordée. Les colutions de commande pour les taches de suivi de chemin coordonné (coordinated path following') et de coordinated path tracking' sont proposées. Les principes du leader-follower' et la méthode des structures virtuelles sont ainsi traitées dans un cadre de contrôle centralisé, et le cas décentralisé est traité en utilisant certains principes de théorie des graphes. / In this dissertation, the problems of motion control of underactuated autonomous vehicles are addressed,namely trajectory tracking (TT), path following (PF), and novelly proposed path tracking whichblending the PF and TT together in order to achieve smooth spatial convergence and tight temporalperformance as well.The control design is firstly started from the benchmark case of nonholonomic unicycle-type vehicles,where the Lyapunov-based design and backstepping technique are employed, and then it is extendedto the underactuated AUVs based on the similarity between the control inputs of two kinds of vehicles.Moreover, dealing with acceleration of side-slip angle is highlighted and stern-dominant property of AUVsis standing out in order to achieve well-posed control computation. Transitions of motion control fromunderactuated to fully actuated AUVs are also proposed.Finally, coordinated formation control of multiple autonomous vehicles are addressed in two-folds,including coordinated paths following and coordinated paths tracking, based on leader-follower andvirtual structure method respectively under the centralized control framework, and then solved underdecentralized control framework by resorting to algebraic graph theory.

In nature, through millions of years of evolution, fish and cetaceans have developed fast efficient and highly manoeuvrable methods of marine propulsion. A recent explosion in demand for sub sea robotics, for conducting tasks such as sub sea exploration and survey has left developers desiring to capture some of the novel mechanisms evolved by fish and cetaceans to increase the efficiency of speed and manoeuvrability of sub sea robots. Research has revealed that interactions with vortices and other unsteady fluid effects play a significant role in the efficiency of fish and cetaceans. However attempts to duplicate this with robotic fish have been limited by the difficulty of predicting or sensing such uncertain fluid effects. This study aims to develop a gait generation method for a robotic fish with a degree of passivity which could allow the body to dynamically interact with and potentially synchronise with vortices within the flow without the need to actually sense them. In this study this is achieved through the development of a novel energy based gait generation tactic, where the gait of the robotic fish is determined through regulation of the state energy rather than absolute state position. Rather than treating fluid interactions as undesirable disturbances and `fighting' them to maintain a rigid geometric defined gait, energy based control allows the disturbances to the system generated by vortices in the surrounding flow to contribute to the energy of the system and hence the dynamic motion. Three different energy controllers are presented within this thesis, a deadbeat energy controller equivalent to an analytically optimised model predictive controller, a $H_\infty$ disturbance rejecting controller with a novel gradient decent optimisation and finally a error feedback controller with a novel alternative error metric. The controllers were tested on a robotic fish simulation platform developed within this project. The simulation platform consisted of the solution of a series of ordinary differential equations for solid body dynamics coupled with a finite element incompressible fluid dynamic simulation of the surrounding flow. results demonstrated the effectiveness of the energy based control approach and illustrate the importance of choice of controller in performance.

<p>In the field of robotics there is a great interest in developing strategies and algorithms to reproduce human-like behavior. One can think of human-like machines that may replace humans in hazardous working areas, perform enduring assembly tasks, serve the elderly and handicapped, etc. The main challenges in the development of such robots are, first, to construct sophisticated electro-mechanical humanoids and, second, to plan and control human-like motor patterns.</p><p>A promising idea for motion planning and control is to reparameterize any somewhat coordinated motion in terms of virtual holonomic constraints, i.e. trajectories of all degrees of freedom of the mechanical system are described by geometric relations among the generalized coordinates. Imposing such virtual holonomic constraints on the system dynamics allows to generate synchronized motor patterns by feedback control. In fact, there exist consistent geometric relations in ordinary human movements that can be used advantageously. In this thesis the virtual constraints approach is extended to a wider and rigorous use for analyzing, planning and reproducing human-like motions based on mathematical tools previously utilized for very particular control problems.</p><p>It is often the case that some desired motions cannot be achieved by the robot due to limitations in available actuation power. This constraint rises the question of how to modify the mechanical design in order to achieve better performance. An underactuated planar two-link robot is used to demonstrate that springs can complement the actuation in parallel to an ordinary motor. Motion planning is carried out for the original robot dynamics while the springs are treated as part of the control action with a torque profile suited to the preplanned trajectory.</p><p>Another issue discussed in this thesis is to find stable and unstable (hybrid) limit cycles for passive dynamic walking robots without integrating the full set of differential equations. Such procedure is demonstrated for the compass-gait biped by means of optimization with a reduced number of initial conditions and parameters to search. The properties of virtual constraints and reduced dynamics are exploited to solve this problem.</p>

In the field of robotics there is a great interest in developing strategies and algorithms to reproduce human-like behavior. One can think of human-like machines that may replace humans in hazardous working areas, perform enduring assembly tasks, serve the elderly and handicapped, etc. The main challenges in the development of such robots are, first, to construct sophisticated electro-mechanical humanoids and, second, to plan and control human-like motor patterns. A promising idea for motion planning and control is to reparameterize any somewhat coordinated motion in terms of virtual holonomic constraints, i.e. trajectories of all degrees of freedom of the mechanical system are described by geometric relations among the generalized coordinates. Imposing such virtual holonomic constraints on the system dynamics allows to generate synchronized motor patterns by feedback control. In fact, there exist consistent geometric relations in ordinary human movements that can be used advantageously. In this thesis the virtual constraints approach is extended to a wider and rigorous use for analyzing, planning and reproducing human-like motions based on mathematical tools previously utilized for very particular control problems. It is often the case that some desired motions cannot be achieved by the robot due to limitations in available actuation power. This constraint rises the question of how to modify the mechanical design in order to achieve better performance. An underactuated planar two-link robot is used to demonstrate that springs can complement the actuation in parallel to an ordinary motor. Motion planning is carried out for the original robot dynamics while the springs are treated as part of the control action with a torque profile suited to the preplanned trajectory. Another issue discussed in this thesis is to find stable and unstable (hybrid) limit cycles for passive dynamic walking robots without integrating the full set of differential equations. Such procedure is demonstrated for the compass-gait biped by means of optimization with a reduced number of initial conditions and parameters to search. The properties of virtual constraints and reduced dynamics are exploited to solve this problem.

À medida que se apresentam grandes avanços tecnológicos nas áreas de instrumentação, controle e acionamento, se torna cada vez mais difundida a utilização de sistemas robóticos para a execução dos mais variados tipos de tarefas, como na exploração de petróleo ou mesmo no transporte de cargas. Desse modo, diversas são as situações em que se torna necessário o uso de sistemas subatuados, despertando o interesse da comunidade científica, quer seja pela variadas situações em que se pode utilizar esse tipo de robô ou mesmo pelo desafio que se apresenta o desenvolvimento de estratégias de controle de tais sistemas. Nesta tese propõe-se um modelo de robô bracejador, juntamente com o desenvolvimento dos modelos matemáticos que descrevem o comportamento cinemático e dinâmico desse robô e a respectiva análise desses modelos. Além disso, o presente trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma estrutura de controle em malha fechada que seja capaz de fazer com que o robô se desloque ao longo de uma linha horizontal. Diferentes estratégias de controle já foram apresentadas para o controle de robôs bracejadores, mas, em sua maioria, possuem limitações quanto ao tipo de bracejamento que o robô pode executar, além de não considerarem nenhuma restrição no sistema. Dessa maneira, emprega-se a estratégia de controle preditivo, com horizonte de predição deslizante, a qual permite que, para o cálculo da lei de controle, sejam consideradas restrições às variáveis de estado e de entrada durante a solução do problema de otimização. A partir da definição do objetivo e da abordagem de controle a ser utilizada, várias simulações são realizadas com o intuito de validar a aplicação do controlador preditivo para o controle do robô bracejador, sendo o robô capaz de executar diferentes tipos de bracejamento (tanto bracejamento único quanto bracejamento contínuo, do tipo underswing e over hand) ao longo da linha de sustentação. São desenvolvidas duas versões para o controlador proposto, uma baseada em modelo não-linear da dinâmica para ser utilizado no horizonte de predição e outra considerando uma versão linearizada para o modelo da dinâmica. Os resultados obtidos pelas diferentes simulações mostram que a solução proposta para o problema de movimentar o robô bracejador atingiu seus objetivos de modo bastante eficiente, possiblitando, inclusive, a realização de simulações que atendessem a requisitos de tempo real. / As we are observing, the fast technological development in the fields of instrumentation, control and actuation are increasing the employment of robotic systems for the execution of a large variety of tasks, for example, oil exploration or load transportation. In this way, there are many situations where it is necessary to use underactuated systems, which are getting attention of the scientific community due to the different applications of underactuated robots or even due to the challenge to design control strategies for such systems. In this thesis we propose a brachiation robot model, with the derivation of mathematical models for its kinematics and dynamics and analyse such models. Moreover, the aim of this work is to propose a closed loop control architecture that will drive the robot to move along the horizontal line. Many different control schemes have already been proposed in the literature to control brachiation robots, however, most of such schemes are limited concerning the way the robot executes the brachiation movement. Moreover those control strategies are not able to deal with constraints on the state and/or control variables. Thus, we present in this thesis a control scheme based on the predictive control strategy, with receding horizon, which can take into account such constraints during the solution of the optimization problem for the control input computation. After defining the task to be executed and the control strategy to be used, we have simulated different situations of the robot aiming the validation the employment of the predictive control approach for the brachiation robot. The robot is able to execute different types of brachiation (only one cicle or continuously motion, with under-swing and over hand motion) along the supporting line. We have developed two versions to the proposed controller, the first one considering a nonlinear dynamic model during the prediction horizong and the second considering a linearized dynamic model for prediction. The results from the different simulation show that the solution presented in this work for the brachiation robot motion was successful, making the robot able to move from one position to a forwarded position in the line. Furthermore, simulations have indicated the overall system can be executed under real time requirements.

À medida que se apresentam grandes avanços tecnológicos nas áreas de instrumentação, controle e acionamento, se torna cada vez mais difundida a utilização de sistemas robóticos para a execução dos mais variados tipos de tarefas, como na exploração de petróleo ou mesmo no transporte de cargas. Desse modo, diversas são as situações em que se torna necessário o uso de sistemas subatuados, despertando o interesse da comunidade científica, quer seja pela variadas situações em que se pode utilizar esse tipo de robô ou mesmo pelo desafio que se apresenta o desenvolvimento de estratégias de controle de tais sistemas. Nesta tese propõe-se um modelo de robô bracejador, juntamente com o desenvolvimento dos modelos matemáticos que descrevem o comportamento cinemático e dinâmico desse robô e a respectiva análise desses modelos. Além disso, o presente trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma estrutura de controle em malha fechada que seja capaz de fazer com que o robô se desloque ao longo de uma linha horizontal. Diferentes estratégias de controle já foram apresentadas para o controle de robôs bracejadores, mas, em sua maioria, possuem limitações quanto ao tipo de bracejamento que o robô pode executar, além de não considerarem nenhuma restrição no sistema. Dessa maneira, emprega-se a estratégia de controle preditivo, com horizonte de predição deslizante, a qual permite que, para o cálculo da lei de controle, sejam consideradas restrições às variáveis de estado e de entrada durante a solução do problema de otimização. A partir da definição do objetivo e da abordagem de controle a ser utilizada, várias simulações são realizadas com o intuito de validar a aplicação do controlador preditivo para o controle do robô bracejador, sendo o robô capaz de executar diferentes tipos de bracejamento (tanto bracejamento único quanto bracejamento contínuo, do tipo underswing e over hand) ao longo da linha de sustentação. São desenvolvidas duas versões para o controlador proposto, uma baseada em modelo não-linear da dinâmica para ser utilizado no horizonte de predição e outra considerando uma versão linearizada para o modelo da dinâmica. Os resultados obtidos pelas diferentes simulações mostram que a solução proposta para o problema de movimentar o robô bracejador atingiu seus objetivos de modo bastante eficiente, possiblitando, inclusive, a realização de simulações que atendessem a requisitos de tempo real. / As we are observing, the fast technological development in the fields of instrumentation, control and actuation are increasing the employment of robotic systems for the execution of a large variety of tasks, for example, oil exploration or load transportation. In this way, there are many situations where it is necessary to use underactuated systems, which are getting attention of the scientific community due to the different applications of underactuated robots or even due to the challenge to design control strategies for such systems. In this thesis we propose a brachiation robot model, with the derivation of mathematical models for its kinematics and dynamics and analyse such models. Moreover, the aim of this work is to propose a closed loop control architecture that will drive the robot to move along the horizontal line. Many different control schemes have already been proposed in the literature to control brachiation robots, however, most of such schemes are limited concerning the way the robot executes the brachiation movement. Moreover those control strategies are not able to deal with constraints on the state and/or control variables. Thus, we present in this thesis a control scheme based on the predictive control strategy, with receding horizon, which can take into account such constraints during the solution of the optimization problem for the control input computation. After defining the task to be executed and the control strategy to be used, we have simulated different situations of the robot aiming the validation the employment of the predictive control approach for the brachiation robot. The robot is able to execute different types of brachiation (only one cicle or continuously motion, with under-swing and over hand motion) along the supporting line. We have developed two versions to the proposed controller, the first one considering a nonlinear dynamic model during the prediction horizong and the second considering a linearized dynamic model for prediction. The results from the different simulation show that the solution presented in this work for the brachiation robot motion was successful, making the robot able to move from one position to a forwarded position in the line. Furthermore, simulations have indicated the overall system can be executed under real time requirements.

À medida que se apresentam grandes avanços tecnológicos nas áreas de instrumentação, controle e acionamento, se torna cada vez mais difundida a utilização de sistemas robóticos para a execução dos mais variados tipos de tarefas, como na exploração de petróleo ou mesmo no transporte de cargas. Desse modo, diversas são as situações em que se torna necessário o uso de sistemas subatuados, despertando o interesse da comunidade científica, quer seja pela variadas situações em que se pode utilizar esse tipo de robô ou mesmo pelo desafio que se apresenta o desenvolvimento de estratégias de controle de tais sistemas. Nesta tese propõe-se um modelo de robô bracejador, juntamente com o desenvolvimento dos modelos matemáticos que descrevem o comportamento cinemático e dinâmico desse robô e a respectiva análise desses modelos. Além disso, o presente trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma estrutura de controle em malha fechada que seja capaz de fazer com que o robô se desloque ao longo de uma linha horizontal. Diferentes estratégias de controle já foram apresentadas para o controle de robôs bracejadores, mas, em sua maioria, possuem limitações quanto ao tipo de bracejamento que o robô pode executar, além de não considerarem nenhuma restrição no sistema. Dessa maneira, emprega-se a estratégia de controle preditivo, com horizonte de predição deslizante, a qual permite que, para o cálculo da lei de controle, sejam consideradas restrições às variáveis de estado e de entrada durante a solução do problema de otimização. A partir da definição do objetivo e da abordagem de controle a ser utilizada, várias simulações são realizadas com o intuito de validar a aplicação do controlador preditivo para o controle do robô bracejador, sendo o robô capaz de executar diferentes tipos de bracejamento (tanto bracejamento único quanto bracejamento contínuo, do tipo underswing e over hand) ao longo da linha de sustentação. São desenvolvidas duas versões para o controlador proposto, uma baseada em modelo não-linear da dinâmica para ser utilizado no horizonte de predição e outra considerando uma versão linearizada para o modelo da dinâmica. Os resultados obtidos pelas diferentes simulações mostram que a solução proposta para o problema de movimentar o robô bracejador atingiu seus objetivos de modo bastante eficiente, possiblitando, inclusive, a realização de simulações que atendessem a requisitos de tempo real. / As we are observing, the fast technological development in the fields of instrumentation, control and actuation are increasing the employment of robotic systems for the execution of a large variety of tasks, for example, oil exploration or load transportation. In this way, there are many situations where it is necessary to use underactuated systems, which are getting attention of the scientific community due to the different applications of underactuated robots or even due to the challenge to design control strategies for such systems. In this thesis we propose a brachiation robot model, with the derivation of mathematical models for its kinematics and dynamics and analyse such models. Moreover, the aim of this work is to propose a closed loop control architecture that will drive the robot to move along the horizontal line. Many different control schemes have already been proposed in the literature to control brachiation robots, however, most of such schemes are limited concerning the way the robot executes the brachiation movement. Moreover those control strategies are not able to deal with constraints on the state and/or control variables. Thus, we present in this thesis a control scheme based on the predictive control strategy, with receding horizon, which can take into account such constraints during the solution of the optimization problem for the control input computation. After defining the task to be executed and the control strategy to be used, we have simulated different situations of the robot aiming the validation the employment of the predictive control approach for the brachiation robot. The robot is able to execute different types of brachiation (only one cicle or continuously motion, with under-swing and over hand motion) along the supporting line. We have developed two versions to the proposed controller, the first one considering a nonlinear dynamic model during the prediction horizong and the second considering a linearized dynamic model for prediction. The results from the different simulation show that the solution presented in this work for the brachiation robot motion was successful, making the robot able to move from one position to a forwarded position in the line. Furthermore, simulations have indicated the overall system can be executed under real time requirements.

The method of controlled Lagrangians is an energy shaping control technique for underactuated Lagrangian systems. Energy shaping control design methods are appealing as they retain the underlying nonlinear dynamics and can provide stability results that hold over larger domain than can be obtained using linear design and analysis. The objective of this dissertation is to identify the control challenges in applying the method of controlled Lagrangians to practical engineering problems and to suggest ways to enhance the closed-loop performance of the controller. This dissertation describes a procedure for incorporating artificial gyroscopic forces in the method of controlled Lagrangians. Allowing these energy-conserving forces in the closed-loop system provides greater freedom in tuning closed-loop system performance and expands the class of eligible systems. In energy shaping control methods, physical dissipation terms that are neglected in the control design may enter the system in a way that can compromise stability. This is well illustrated through the "ball on a beam" example. The effect of physical dissipation on the closed-loop dynamics is studied in detail and conditions for stability in the presence of natural damping are discussed. The control technique is applied to the classic "inverted pendulum on a cart" system. A nonlinear controller is developed which asymptotically stabilizes the inverted equilibrium at a specific cart position for the conservative dynamic model. The region of attraction contains all states for which the pendulum is elevated above the horizontal plane. Conditions for asymptotic stability in the presence of linear damping are developed. The onlinear controller is validated through experiments. Experimental cart damping is best modeled using static and Coulomb friction. Experiments show that static and Coulomb friction degrades the closed-loop performance and induces limit cycles. A Lyapunov-based switching controller is proposed and successfully implemented to suppress the limit cycle oscillations. The Lyapunov-based controller switches between the energy shaping nonlinear controller, for states away from the equilibrium, and a well-tuned linear controller, for states close to the equilibrium. The method of controlled Lagrangians is applied to vehicle systems with internal moving point mass actuators. Applications of moving mass actuators include certain spacecraft, atmospheric re-entry vehicles, and underwater vehicles. Control design using moving mass actuators is challenging; the system is often underactuated and multibody dynamic models are higher dimensional. We consider two examples to illustrate the application of controlled Lagrangian formulation. The first example is a spinning disk, a simplified, planar version of a spacecraft spin stabilization problem. The second example is a planar, streamlined underwater vehicle. / Ph. D.