Control of an under activated unstable nonlinear object

This paper presents a comprehensive comparative study of several nonlinear controllers for stabilisation of the under actuated unstable nonlinear object known as the Acrobot in the literature. The object is a two DOF robot arm only actuated at the elbow. The study compares several control algorithms from the literature and a new algorithm developed during the study.

The comparison is based on both simulation and real experiments for all controllers.