Relying on the possibility of generating a second-order sliding motion by using, as control, the first derivative of the control signal instead of the actual control, a new solution to the problem of chattering elimination in variable structure control (VSC) is presented. Such a solution, inspired by the classical bang-bang optimal control strategy, is first depicted and expressed in terms of a control algorithm by introducing a suitable auxiliary problem involving a second-order uncertain system with unavailable velocity. Then, the applicability of the algorithm is extended, via suitable modifications, to the case of nonlinear systems with uncertainties of more general types. The proposed algorithm does not require the use of observers and differential inequalities and can be applied in practice by exploiting such commercial components as peak detectors or other approximated methods to evaluate the change of the sign of the derivative of the quantity accounting for the distance to the sliding manifold

The effective application of sliding mode control to mechanical systems is not straightforward because of the sensitivity of these systems to chattering. Higher-order sliding modes can counteract this phenomenon by confining the switching control to the higher derivatives of the mechanical control variable, so that the latter results are continuous. Generally, this approach requires the availability of a number of time derivatives of the sliding variable, and, in the presence of noise, this requirement could be a practical limitation. A class of second-order sliding mode controllers, guaranteeing finite-time convergence for systems with relative degree two between the sliding variable and the switching control, could be helpful both in reducing the number of differentiator stages in the controller and in dealing with unmodelled actuator dynamics. In this paper different second-order sliding mode controllers, previously presented in the literature, are shown to belong to the above cited class, and some challenging control problems involving mechanical systems are addressed and solved. Simulations and experimental results are provided throughout the paper

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