| Abstract: | A cart‐pendulum system is a nonlinear underactuated mechanical system with two degrees of freedom. This paper addresses the motion trajectory design and tracking control problems for this underactuated system. First, a friction‐like control law is designed for the system. Then, the characteristics of the closed‐loop control system are analyzed. Second, a new method of constructing an optimal trajectory for the system is developed. Then, a tracking control law is designed to quickly track the constructed trajectory. It guarantees that the motion control of the cart‐pendulum system is achieved along a reference trajectory. Finally, a numerical example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. This study constructs an optimal trajectory for the cart‐pendulum system in its whole motion space and solves the motion control objective by tracking the constructed trajectory. It has many advantages compared with other motion control methods, eg, the optimal motion control objective of the system is achieved by a single control law; and the motion process and transient characteristics (eg, the settling time) of the control system can be accurately predicted. |
