Adaptive output feedback stabilization for nonholonomic systems with strong nonlinear drifts

This paper investigates the design of an output feedback adaptive stabilization controller for a nonholonomic chained system with strong nonlinear drifts, including modeled nonlinear dynamics, unmodeled dynamics, and dynamics modeled with unknown parameters. Also the virtual control directions of the system are unknown. The purpose is to design a nonlinear output feedback switching controller such that the closed loop system is globally asymptotically stable. A novel observer and estimator are introduced for states and parameter estimates, respectively. A constructive procedure of design for an output feedback adaptive controller is given, by using the integrator backstepping approach and based on the proposed observer and parameter estimator. An example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.