Control of a series of carts in the case of nonsmooth unilateral impacts

The goal of this work is the control of a series of carts, dragged by the first one (the only actuated cart) along parallel tracks. A very simple control law is proposed to let all the carts, which are subject to nonsmooth, unilateral impacts, move asymptotically at an assigned, common velocity. The properties of the controlled system are analytically proven and confirmed by simulation results.