Control for a family of nonlinear and under-actuated systems with DOF-redundancy and geometric constraints

This talk presents a tutorial note on stability and control of a large family of nonlinear mechanical systems which are geometrically constrained, under-actuated, and redundant in the number of total degrees of freedom relative to the number of physical variables necessary and sufficient for description of a given task. One of such typical dynamics is a class of Lagrange's equation of motion of multi-fingered hands grasping and manipulating an object. It is emphasized that sensory-motor coordination using sensory feedbacks play a crucial role in controlling such nonlinear systems.