Propeller Motion of a Devil-Stick using Normal Forcing

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2501.17789
• Publication Date: 2025-01-01
• Authors: Khandelwal, Aakash; Mukherjee, Ranjan
• Keywords: FOS: Computer and information sciences; Computer Science - Robotics; FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; Systems and Control (eess.SY); Electrical Engineering and Systems Science - Systems and Control; Robotics (cs.RO)

6 pages, 5 figures. This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication<br/>The problem of realizing rotary propeller motion of a devil-stick in the vertical plane using forces purely normal to the stick is considered. This problem represents a nonprehensile manipulation task of an underactuated system. In contrast with previous approaches, the devil-stick is manipulated by controlling the normal force and its point of application. Virtual holonomic constraints are used to design the trajectory of the center-of-mass of the devil-stick in terms of its orientation angle, and conditions for stable propeller motion are derived. Intermittent large-amplitude forces are used to asymptotically stabilize a desired propeller motion. Simulations demonstrate the efficacy of the approach in realizing stable propeller motion without loss of contact between the actuator and devil-stick.<br/>