Nonholonomic Mechanics and Control

This book explores some of the connections between control theory and geometric mechanics. The author links control theory 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 the topic is appropriate as there is a particularly rich connection between mechanics and nonlinear control theory. The book provides a unified treatment of nonlinear control theory and constrained mechanical systems that incorporates material not available in other recent texts and monographs. The book will be of particular benefit to graduate students who wish to learn this subject and researchers in the area who want to enhance their techniques.