Exponentially stabilizing continuous-time controllers for periodic orbits of hybrid systems: Application to bipedal locomotion with ground height variations

This paper presents a systematic approach for the design of continuous-time controllers to robustly and exponentially stabilize periodic orbits of hybrid dynamical systems arising from bipedal walking. A parameterized family of continuous-time controllers is assumed so that (1) a periodic orbit is induced for the hybrid system, and (2) the orbit is invariant under the choice of controller parameters. Properties of the Poincaré map and its first- and second-order derivatives are used to translate the problem of exponential stabilization of the periodic orbit into a set of bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs). A BMI optimization problem is then set up to tune the parameters of the continuous-time controller so that the Jacobian of the Poincaré map has its eigenvalues in the unit circle. It is also shown how robustness against uncertainty in the switching condition of the hybrid system can be incorporated into the design problem. The power of this approach is illustrated by finding robust and stabilizing continuous-time feedback laws for walking gaits of two underactuated 3D bipedal robots.