Passive velocity field control (PVFC). Part I. Geometry and robustness

Passive velocity field control is a control methodology for fully actuated mechanical systems, in which the motion task is specified behaviorally in terms of a velocity field, and the closed-loop system is passive with respect to a supply rate given by the environment power input. The control law is derived geometrically and the geometric and robustness properties of the closed-loop system are analyzed. It is shown that the closed-loop unforced trajectories are geodesics of a closed-loop connection which is compatible with an inertia metric, and that the velocity of the system converges exponentially to a scaled multiple of the desired velocity field. The robustness property of the system exhibits some strong directional preference. In particular, disturbances that push in the direction of the desired momentum do not adversely affect the performance. Moreover, robustness property also improves with more energy in the system.