Real-time experimental control of a system in its chaotic and nonchaotic regimes

Current model-independent control techniques are limited, from a practical standpoint, by their dependence on a precontrol learning stage. Here we use a real-time, adaptive, model-independent (RTAMI) feedback control technique to control an experimental system --- a driven magnetoelastic ribbon --- in its nonchaotic and chaotic regimes. We show that the RTAMI technique is capable of tracking and stabilizing higher-order unstable periodic orbits. These results demonstrate that the RTAMI technique is practical for on-the-fly (i.e., no learning stage) control of real-world dynamical systems.