Necessary conditions for feedback stabilization and safety (Q2086021)

Motivated by problems arising in robotics and other settings of underactuated control systems, this paper introduces tests to determine if it is possible to use continuous feedback to make a system stabilize around -- or, alternatively, operate safely relative to -- some subset of state space. First, a necessary condition for stabilizability of a compact set is proved. This result is a generalization of the Brockett's necessary condition [\textit{R. W. Brockett}, Prog. Math. 27, 181--191 (1983; Zbl 0528.93051)]. Based on this result, it is proved a necessary condition for the existence of a ``safe'' control law rendering some ``bad'' set repelling. Four example are presented to illustrate the applicability of the obtained results. Also, two applications also given: to a class of affine control systems and to nonholonomic Lagrangian control systems.