Nonholonomic Mechanics and Control (Paperback, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2003)

The goal of this book is to explore some of the connections between control theory and geometric mechanics; that is, control theory is linked with a geometric view of classical mechanics in both its Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations and in particular with the theory of mechanical systems subject to motion constraints. The synthesis of topics is appropriate as there is a particularly rich connection between mechanics and nonlinear control theory. The aim is to provide a unified treatment of nonlinear control theory and constrained mechanical systems that incorporates material that has not yet made its way into texts and monographs.This book is intended for graduate students who wish to learn this subject and researchers in the area who want to enhance their techniques.