Finite‐time consensus of Euler‐Lagrange agents without velocity measurements via energy shaping

Summary Motivated by the energy‐shaping framework and the properties of homogeneous systems, this paper deals with the problem of achieving consensus of multiple Euler‐Lagrange (EL) systems using the energy shaping plus damping injection principles of passivity‐based control. We propose a method to derive a novel family of decentralized controllers that is capable of solving the leaderless and the leader‐follower consensus problems in finite‐time in networks of fully actuated EL systems without employing velocity measurements. As in the energy‐shaping methodology, the controller is another EL system and the plant‐controller interconnection is the gradient of a suitable defined potential function. The potential energy and dissipation functions, of the controller, are provided with some homogeneous properties in order to achieve finite‐time convergence. This paper provides several simulations that corroborate the performance of different controllers.