Abstract: A nonlinear sliding mode control method is presented for single inverted pendulum position tracking control. The nonlinear sliding mode is designed in the augmented states space using a decentralized and iterative procedure based on system output feedback. An increment feedback control law is then developed and proved to balance the pendulum-angle and drive the cart to track an arbitrary position without estimating the parameter uncertainties. Due to its simple structure and clear parametric functions, the controller is easy to be designed and adjusted for different control objectives. Numerical simulation results verify that the controller is robust to the systematic variations and both of the pendulum-angle and the cart velocity can be easily adjusted by parameters tuning in cart-position tracking.

Key words: single inverted pendulum, position tracking control, nonlinear sliding mode, variable structure control