This paper presents a new nonlinear robust disturbance observer by using on
ly the input-output information for minimum phase dynamical systems with ar
bitrarily relative degrees. The model uncertainties, the nonlinear parts of
the system are merged into the disturbance term, and are regarded as a par
t of the disturbance. The disturbance is assumed bounded. However, the uppe
r and lower bounds are assumed unknown. The new disturbance observer is ins
pired by the VSS control theory, whereas the upper and lower bounds of the
disturbance are adaptively updated. The estimation error of the disturbance
can be made as small as necessary by choosing the design parameters. The a
ttraction of the proposed method lies in its robustness to disturbance and
easiness to be implemented. Example and simulation results show the effecti
veness of the proposed algorithm. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.