Reference Spreading: Tracking Performance for Impact Trajectories of a 1DoF Setup

In this brief, trajectory tracking control for nonperiodic motions with impacts is analyzed by means of physical experiments. This brief aims at demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of the control method called reference spreading (RS) on a physical setup. An actuated rebounding pendulum, a one-degree-of-freedom system specifically designed for performing trajectories with partially elastic impacts, acts as a test bench. RS control is compared to both classic proportional derivative (PD) feedback control and distance function-based control, showing superior performance. Evidence of RS’s robustness to delayed impact detection, deteriorated velocity estimation accuracy, and model inaccuracies is moreover reported.