Synchronization of Mechanical Systems (Nonlinear Science, 46)

The main goal of this text is to prove analytically and validate experimentally that synchronization in multi-composed mechanical systems can be achieved in the case of partial knowledge of the state vector of the systems, i.e. when only positions are measured. For this purpose, synchronization schemes based on interconnections between the systems, feedback controllers and observers are proposed. Because mechanical systems include a large variety of systems, and since it is impossible to address all of them, the book focuses on robot manipulators. Nonetheless the ideas developed here can be extended to other mechanical systems, such as mobile robots, motors and generators.