Almost output consensus of nonlinear multiagent systems in the presence of external disturbances

Summary In this article, we investigate the almost output consensus problem for nonlinear multiagent systems under the influence of external disturbances. The problem of almost output consensus of nonlinear multiagent systems is formulated. Conditions on the nonlinear systems are established under which distributed consensus protocols are designed in a recursive manner. These protocols are shown to achieve almost output consensus, that is, output consensus of the system is achieved in the absence of the disturbances and the L 2 ‐gain from the disturbances to the output consensus error of agents when the system is operating in output consensus can be made arbitrarily small. A simulation example is shown to verify the theoretical results.