On disturbance attenuation properties of control schemes for Euler-Lagrange systems: Theoretical and experimental results

In this paper we analyse and experimentally verify the (local) disturbance attenuation properties of some asymptotically stabilizing nonlinear controllers for Euler-Lagrange systems reported in the literature. Our objective with this study is twofold: first, to compare the performance of these schemes from a perspective different from stabilizability; second, to quantify the basic tradeoff between robust stability and robust performance for these designs. We consider passivity-based and feedback linearization schemes developed for the control of DC-to-DC converters and rigid robots. The results are readily checked and analysed for the DC-to-DC converter in the experimental set-up.