We exploit a recently developed funnel control methodology for linear non-minimum phase systems to design an output error feedback controller for a nonlinear robotic manipulator, which is not minimum phase. We illustrate the novel control design by a numerical case study where we simulate end-effector output tracking of the robotic manipulator.

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>We consider tracking control for multibody systems which are modeled using holonomic and non-holonomic constraints. Furthermore, the systems may be underactuated and contain kinematic loops and are thus described by a set of differential-algebraic equations that cannot be reformulated as ordinary differential equations in general. We propose a control strategy which combines a feedforward controller based on the servo-constraints approach with a feedback controller based on a recent funnel control design. As an important tool for both approaches, we present a new procedure to derive the internal dynamics of a multibody system. Furthermore, we present a feasible set of coordinates for the internal dynamics avoiding the effort involved with the computation of the Byrnes–Isidori form. The control design is demonstrated by a simulation for a nonlinear non-minimum phase multi-input, multi-output robotic manipulator with kinematic loop.</jats:p>