Robust adaptive finite-time attitude tracking control of a 3D pendulum with external disturbance: numerical simulations and hardware experiments

Abstract

The three-degree-of-freedom (3D) pendulum has been used as a benchmark in the field of nonlinear dynamics and control. Nonetheless, the attitude control of 3D pendulum is still an open problem presently since some issues remain not well addressed. In this paper, a robust adaptive finite-time attitude control method is proposed for the attitude tracking control of a 3D pendulum with external disturbance. First, a baseline finite-time attitude controller is designed based on the adding a power integrator technique. Then, a finite-time disturbance observer is designed to exactly estimate the unknown external disturbance. Finally, a robust adaptive finite-time attitude controller is constructed by integrating the baseline finite-time attitude controller with the finite-time disturbance observer. The proposed robust adaptive finite-time attitude controller can guarantee the global finite-time stability of the whole closed-loop system even in the presence of external disturbance owing to the feedforward dynamic compensation. Numerical simulations and hardware experiments are both performed to illustrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control method.