Synchronization of networked mechanical systems with communication delays and human input

The problem of controlling a group of networked mechanical systems to synchronize and follow a common trajectory is studied in this paper. We first address the results for networked mechanical systems to achieve synchronization when the interagent communication graph is balanced and strongly connected with communication delays. Subsequently, a control law is developed to guarantee synchronization and trajectory tracking for networked mechanical systems communicating on regular graphs when there are constant time delays in communication and the interconnection topology is time-varying. The case when a human operator input is introduced in the closed-loop system is also considered. It is demonstrated that a bounded human operator input results in bounded tracking and synchronization errors, even when there are constant time delays in communication. The simulation and experimental results are presented by utilizing the kinematic and dynamic models of PHANToM Omni derived in this paper.