Time-Invariant State Feedback Control Laws for a Special Form of Underactuated Nonlinear Systems Using Linear State Bisection

Linear state bisection is introduced as a new method to find time-invariant state feedback control laws for a special form of underactuated nonlinear systems. The specialty of the systems considered is that every unactuated state should be coupled with at least two directly actuated states. The basic idea is based on bisecting actuated states and using linear combinations with adjustable parameters to stabilize the unactuated states. These linear combinations make the underactuated system virtually fullyactuated, making it suitable to be stabilized with well-known nonlinear control methods, like feedback linearization. In addition to its simplicity, one of the main contributions of this method is that it can be applied to systems with more than one unactuated state. Three underactuated systems are considered: an asymmetric rigid body, a planar rigid body with an unactuated internal degree of freedom and a system with two degrees of underactuation. It is shown through simulations that the proposed control laws can be effectively used to stabilize the special form of underactuated systems considered.