“…However, controlling the ETV is complex due to various nonlinear factors, including stick-slip friction, gear clearance, and discontinuous nonlinear springs [ 5 ]. In recent years, several control strategies have been proposed for ETV, including PID control [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], optimal control [ 9 , 10 ], adaptive control [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ], and sliding mode control [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Among them, sliding mode (SM) control is a powerful nonlinear control method that can achieve stable and robust control even in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances, which makes SM well-suited for ETVs.…”