Hidden attractors are present in many nonlinear dynamical systems and are not associated with equilibria, making them difficult to locate. Recent studies have demonstrated methods of locating hidden attractors, but the route to these attractors is still not fully understood. In this Research Letter, we present the route to hidden attractors in systems with stable equilibrium points and in systems without any equilibrium points. We show that hidden attractors emerge as a result of the saddle-node bifurcation of stable and unstable periodic orbits. Real-time hardware experiments were performed to demonstrate the existence of hidden attractors in these systems. Despite the difficulties in identifying suitable initial conditions from the appropriate basin of attraction, we performed experiments to detect hidden attractors in nonlinear electronic circuits. Our results provide insights into the generation of hidden attractors in nonlinear dynamical systems.

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• Bifurcations
• Chaotic systems
• Dynamical systems