Impulsive control of a rubber-rolling symmetric ball (poster)

HERNÁN CENDRA; MARÍA DEL ROSARIO ETCHECHOURY; SEBASTIÁN J. FERRARO

Luminy

Workshop; Geometry, Mechanics and Dynamics: A Workshop celebrating the 60th Birthday of Tudor Ratiu; 2010

Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques

Summary: We consider a ball that is symmetric (in the sense explained below), rolling without slipping or spinning on a horizontal plate. Our goal is to approximate a given path on the plate by applying a sequence of instantaneous impulses (elastic impacts) on the ball, and letting it roll freely according to its nontrivial dynamics between impulses. We estimate the difference between the resulting final orientation of the ball and the orientation that the ball would have if it had rolled along the desired path.