Control of nonlinear systems using terminal sliding modes

Abstract

The development of an approach to control synthesis for robust robot operations in unstructured environments is discussed. To enhance control performance with full model information, the authors introduce the notion of terminal convergence and develop control laws based on a class of sliding modes, denoted as terminal sliders. They demonstrate that terminal sliders provide robustness to parametric uncertainty without having to resort to high-frequency control switching, as in the case of conventional sliders. It is shown that the proposed method leads to greater guaranteed precision in all control cases discussed.