Continuous Sliding-Mode Control for a Class of Underactuated Systems

This paper deals with the design of sliding-mode controllers for the stabilization of a class of underactuated systems. The proposed method takes advantage of the mechanical properties of a class of underactuated systems instead of using nonlinear transformations. In order to design the controller, a series of sliding variables with relative degree one and two are introduced. The theoretical differences between these approaches are discussed and some simulation results show some practical differences.