Data-driven Bayesian Control of Port-Hamiltonian Systems

Abstract: Port-Hamiltonian theory is an established way to describe nonlinear physical systems widely used in various fields such as robotics, energy management, and mechanical engineering. This has led to considerable research interest in the control of Port-Hamiltonian systems, resulting in numerous model-based control techniques. However, the performance and stability of the closed-loop typically depend on the quality of the PH model, which is often difficult to obtain using first principles. We propose a Gaussian Processes (GP) based control approach for Port-Hamiltonian systems (GPC-PHS) by leveraging gathered data. The Bayesian characteristics of GPs enable the creation of a distribution encompassing all potential Hamiltonians instead of providing a singular point estimate. Using this uncertainty quantification, the proposed approach takes advantage of passivity-based robust control with interconnection and damping assignment to establish probabilistic stability guarantees.