Distributed Robust Finite-Time Containment Control of Euler-Lagrange Systems

This paper considers the distributed finite-time containment control problem for multi-agent systems (MASs) with double-integrator leaders and Euler-Lagrange (EL) followers. A novel distributed fast non-singular terminal sliding mode controller (FNTSMC) is proposed to drive the followers to the convex hull specified by the leaders. Specifically, the proposed controller is based on a newly-defined fast sliding surface that switches between a linear sliding surface when the system states are far from the origin to improve the convergence speed, and a terminal sliding surface when the system states are near the origin to ensure finite-time convergence. Controller parameters are designed based on finite-time convergence theory to ensure the overall system convergence. Lastly, the developed containment control protocol is validated using simulations of a group of two virtual leaders and four two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) manipulator followers.