Sensitivity analysis for trajectories of nonsmooth mechanical systems with simultaneous impacts

Abstract

Sensitivity analysis for hybrid systems with state-triggered jumps is experiencing renewed attention for the control of robots with intermittent contacts. The basic assumption that enables this type of analysis is that jumps are triggered when the state reaches, transversally, a sufficiently smooth switching surface. In many scenarios of practical relevance, however, this switching surface is just piecewise smooth and, moreover, a perturbation of the initial conditions or the input leads to a different number of jumps than the nominal trajectory's. This work extends the sensitivity analysis in this context, under the assumptions that (i) at least locally, the intermediate perturbation-dependent jumps lead the system to reach always the nominal post-impact mode and (ii) once a switching and corresponding intermediate jump has occurred, its corresponding constraint remains active until reaching the nominal post-impact mode. Numerical simulations complement and validate the theoretical findings.