A Novel Disturbance Observer Based Fixed-Time Sliding Mode Control for Robotic Manipulators With Global Fast Convergence

This paper proposes a new global fixed-time sliding mode control strategy for the trajectory tracking control of uncertain robotic manipulators.First,a fixed-time disturbance observer(FTDO) is designed to deal with the adverse effects of model uncertainties and external disturbances in the manipulator systems.Then an adaptive scheme is used and the adaptive FTDO(AFTDO) is developed,so that the priori knowledge of the lumped disturbance is not required.Further,a new non-singular fast terminal sliding mode(NFTSM) surface is designed by using an arctan function,which helps to overcome the singularity problem and enhance the robustness of the system.Based on the estimation of the lumped disturbance by the AFTDO,a fixed-time non-singular fast terminal sliding mode controller(FTNFTSMC)is developed to guarantee the trajectory tracking errors converge to zero within a fixed time.The settling time is independent of the initial state of the system.In addition,the stability of the AFTDO and FTNFTSMC is strictly proved by using Lyapunov method.Finally,the fixed-time NFESM(FTNFTSM) algorithm is validated on a 2-link manipulator and comparisons with other existing sliding mode controllers(SMCs) are performed.The comparative results confirm that the FTNFTSMC has superior control performance.

Distributionally robust model predictive control for constrained robotic manipulators based on neural network modeling

A distributionally robust model predictive control(DRMPC)scheme is proposed based on neural network(NN)modeling to achieve the trajectory tracking control of robot manipulators with state and control torque constraints.First,an NN is used to fit the motion data of robot manipulators for data-driven dynamic modeling,converting it into a linear prediction model through gradients.Then,by statistically analyzing the stochastic characteristics of the NN modeling errors,a distributionally robust model predictive controller is designed based on the chance constraints,and the optimization problem is transformed into a tractable quadratic programming(QP)problem under the distributionally robust optimization(DRO)framework.The recursive feasibility and convergence of the proposed algorithm are proven.Finally,the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified through numerical simulation.

Neural Dynamics for Cooperative Motion Control of Omnidirectional Mobile Manipulators in the Presence of Noises: A Distributed Approach

This paper presents a distributed scheme with limited communications, aiming to achieve cooperative motion control for multiple omnidirectional mobile manipulators(MOMMs).The proposed scheme extends the existing single-agent motion control to cater to scenarios involving the cooperative operation of MOMMs. Specifically, squeeze-free cooperative load transportation is achieved for the end-effectors of MOMMs by incorporating cooperative repetitive motion planning(CRMP), while guiding each individual to desired poses. Then, the distributed scheme is formulated as a time-varying quadratic programming(QP) and solved online utilizing a noise-tolerant zeroing neural network(NTZNN). Theoretical analysis shows that the NTZNN model converges globally to the optimal solution of QP in the presence of noise. Finally, the effectiveness of the control design is demonstrated by numerical simulations and physical platform experiments.

Effects of Joint Controller on Analytical Modal Analysis of Rotational Flexible Manipulator

Modal analysis is a fundamental and important task for modeling and control of the flexible manipulator. However, almost all of the traditional modal analysis methods view the flexible manipulator as a pure mechanical structure and neglect feedback action of joint controller. In order to study the effects of joint controller on the modal analysis of rotational flexible manipulator, a closed-loop analytical modal analysis method is proposed. Firstly, two exact boundary constraints, namely servo feedback constraint and bending moment constraint, are derived to solve the vibration partial differential equation. It is found that the stiffness and damping gains of joint controller are both included in the boundary conditions, which lead to an unconventional secular term. Secondly, analytical algorithm based on Ritz approach is developed by using Laplace transform and complex modal approach to obtain the natural frequencies and mode shapes. And then, the numerical simulations are performed and the computational results show that joint controller has pronounced influence on the modal parameters： joint controller stiffness reduces the natural frequency, while joint controller damping makes the shape phase non-zero. Furthermore, the validity of the presented conclusion is confirmed through experimental studies. These findings are expected to improve the performance of dynamics simulation systems and model-based controllers.

Position Control of a Flexible Manipulator Using a New Nonlinear Self-Tuning PID Controller

In this paper, a new nonlinear self-tuning PID controller(NSPIDC) is proposed to control the joint position and link deflection of a flexible-link manipulator(FLM) while it is subjected to carry different payloads. Since, payload is a critical parameter of the FLM whose variation greatly influences the controller performance. The proposed controller guarantees stability under change in payload by attenuating the non-modeled higher order dynamics using a new nonlinear autoregressive moving average with exogenous-input(NARMAX) model of the FLM. The parameters of the FLM are identified on-line using recursive least square(RLS) algorithm and using minimum variance control(MVC) laws the control parameters are updated in real-time. This proposed NSPID controller has been implemented in real-time on an experimental set-up. The joint tracking and link deflection performances of the proposed adaptive controller are compared with that of a popular direct adaptive controller(DAC). From the obtained results, it is confirmed that the proposed controller exhibits improved performance over the DAC both in terms of accurate position tracking and quick damping of link deflections when subjected to variable payloads.

An Adaptive Fuzzy Controller for Trajectory Tracking of Robot Manipulator

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy control algorithm is proposed for trajectory tracking of an n-DOF robot manipulator subjected to parametric uncertainty and it is advantageous compared to the conventional nonlinear saturation controller. The asymptotic stability of the proposed controller has been derived based on Lyapunaov energy function. The design procedure is straightforward due to its simple fuzzy rules and control strategies. The simulation results show that the present control strategy effectively reduces the control effort with negligible chattering in control torque signals in comparison to the existing nonlinear saturation controller.

Design of Fuzzy Controller for Robot Manipulators Using Bacterial Foraging Optimization Algorithm

Trial and error method can be used to find a suitable design of a fuzzy controller. However, there are many options including fuzzy rules, Membership Functions (MFs) and scaling factors to achieve a desired performance. An optimiza-tion algorithm facilitates this process and finds an optimal design to provide a desired performance. This paper presents a novel application of the Bacterial Foraging Optimization algorithm (BFO) to design a fuzzy controller for tracking control of a robot manipulator driven by permanent magnet DC motors. We use efficiently the BFO algorithm to form the rule base and MFs. The BFO algorithm is compared with a Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO). Performance of the controller in the joint space and in the Cartesian space is evaluated. Simulation results show superiority of the BFO algorithm to the PSO algorithm.

Robust Iterative Learning Controller for the Non-zero Initial Error Problem on Robot Manipulator

Industrial robot system is a kind of dynamic system w ith strong nonlinear coupling and high position precision. A lot of control ways , such as nonlinear feedbackdecomposition motion and adaptive control and so o n, have been used to control this kind of system, but there are some deficiencie s in those methods: some need accurate and some need complicated operation and e tc. In recent years, in need of controlling the industrial robots, aiming at com pletely tracking the ideal input for the controlled subject with repetitive character, a new research area, ILC (iterative learning control), has been devel oped in the control technology and theory. The iterative learning control method can make the controlled subject operate as desired in a definite time span, merely making use of the prior control experie nce of the system and searching for the desired control signal according to the practical and desired output signal. The process of searching is equal to that o f learning, during which we only need to measure the output signal to amend the control signal, not like the adaptive control strategy, which on line assesses t he complex parameters of the system. Besides, since the iterative learning contr ol relies little on the prior message of the subject, it has been well used in a lot of areas, especially the dynamic systems with strong non-linear coupling a nd high repetitive position precision and the control system with batch producti on. Since robot manipulator has the above-mentioned character, ILC can be very well used in robot manipulator. In the ILC, since the operation always begins with a certain initial state, init ial condition has been required in almost all convergence verification. Therefor e, in designing the controller, the initial state has to be restricted with some condition to guarantee the convergence of the algorithm. The settle of initial condition problem has long been pursued in the ILC. There are commonly two kinds of initial condition problems: one is zero initial error problem, another is non-zero initial error problem. In practice, the repe titive operation will invariably produce excursion of the iterative initial stat e from the desired initial state. As a result, the research on the second in itial problem has more practical meaning. In this paper, for the non-zero initial error problem, one novel robust ILC alg orithms, respectively combining PD type iterative learning control algorithm wit h the robust feedback control algorithm, has been presented. This novel robust ILC algorithm contain two parts: feedforward ILC algorithm and robust feedback algorithm, which can be used to restrain disturbance from param eter variation, mechanical nonlinearities and unmodeled dynamics and to achieve good performance as well. The feedforward ILC algorithm can be used to improve the tracking error and perf ormance of the system through iteratively learning from the previous operation, thus performing the tracking task very fast. The robust feedback algorithm could mainly be applied to make the real output of the system not deviate too much fr om the desired tracking trajectory, and guarantee the system’s robustness w hen there are exterior noises and variations of the system parameter. In this paper, in order to analyze the convergence of the algorithm, Lyapunov st ability theory has been used through properly selecting the Lyapunov function. T he result of the verification shows the feasibility of the novel robust iterativ e learning control in theory. Finally, aiming at the two-freedom rate robot, simulation has been made with th e MATLAB software. Furthermore, two groups of parameters are selected to validat e the robustness of the algorithm.

Trajectory tracking control based on linear active disturbance rejection controller for 6-DOF robot manipulator

The trajectory tracking control for a 6-DOF robot manipulator with multiple inputs and outputs,non-linearity and strong coupling is studied.Firstly,a dynamical model for the 6-DOF robot manipulator is designed.From the view point of practical engineering,considering the model uncertainties and external disturbances,the robot manipulator is divided into 6 independent joint subsystems,and a linear active disturbance rejection controller(LADRC)is developed to track trajectory for each subsystem respectively.LADRC has few parameters that are easy to be adjusted in engineering.Linear expansion state observer(LESO)as the uncertainty observer is able to estimate the general uncertainties effectively.Eventually,the validity and robustness of the proposed method adopted in 6-DOF robot manipulator are demonstrated via numerical simulations and 6-DOF robot manipulator experiments,which is of practical value in engineering application.

FUZZY ADAPTIVE CONTROL OF FLEXIBLE-LINK ROBOT MANIPULATOR

A fuzzy adaptive control method is proposed for a flexible robot manipulator. Due to the structure characteristics of the flexible manipulator, the vibration modes must be controlled to realize the high-precision tip position. The Lagrangian principle is utilized to model the dynamic function of the single-degree flexible manipulator incorporating the assumed modes method. Simulation results of the fuzzy adaptive control method in the location control and the trajectory tracking with different tip disturbances are presented and compared with the results of the classic PD control. It shows that the controller can obtain the stable and robust performance.

FUZZY COORDINATION AND FORCE/POSITION CONTROL OF ROBOTIC MANIPULATOR

It is crucial for implementing force/position control of robotic manipulator under the constraint of unknown environment to determine the force control and the position control directions. This paper presents an on line algorithm to real timely estimate the tangent and the normal vectors of the constraint surface based on the measured contact force under the consideration of frictional force. A fuzzy synthesis policy is proposed to coordinate the conflict between the compliant force control and the stiff position control. An experimental study on an AdeptThree, a SCARA type robotic manipulator, is conducted. The experimental results show that the policy presented in the paper is effective.

ON HYBRID POSITION/FORCE COORDINATED LEARNING CONTROL OF MULTIPLE MANIPULATORS

In this paper, coordinated control of multiple robot manipulators holding a rigid object is discussed. In consideration of inaccuracy of the dynamic model of a multiple manipulator system, the error equations on object position and internal force are derived. Then a hybrid position/force coordinated learning control scheme is presented and its convergence is proved. The scheme can improve the system performance by modifying the control input of the system after each iterative learning. Simulation results of two planar robot manipulators holding an object show the effectiveness of this control scheme.

A Decentralized Autonomous Control on Highly Redundant Robot Manipulators

The control method of highly redundant robot manipulators is introduced. A decentralized autonomous control scheme is used to guide the movement of robot manipulators so that the work done by manipulators is minimized. The method of computing pseudoinverse which needs too many complicated calculation can be avoided. Then the calculation and control of robots are simplified. At the same time system robustness/fault tolerance is achieved.

Impedance force control for position controlled robotic manipulators under the constraint of unknown environments

A force control strategy for position controlled robotic manipulators is presented. On line force feedback data are employed to estimate the local shape of the unknown constraint. The estimated vectors are used to generate the virtual reference trajectory for the target impedance model that is driven by the force error to produce command position. By following the command position trajectory the robotic manipulator can follow the unknown constraint surface while keeping an acceptable force error in a manner depicted by the target impedance model. Computer simulation on a 3 linked planar manipulator and experimental studies on an Adept 3, an SCARA type robotic manipulator, are conducted to verify the force tracking capability of the proposed control strategy.

ADAPTIVE FUZZY CONTROL FOR ROBOT ARM MANIPULATOR WITH 5-DOF

To control the robot and track the designed trajectory with uncertain disturbances in a specified precision range, an adaptive fuzzy control scheme for the robot arm manipulator is discussed. The controller output error method （COEM） is used to design the adaptive fuzzy controller. A few or all of the parameters of the controller are adjusted by using the gradient descent algorithm to minimize the output error. COEM is adopted in the adaptive control system for the robot arm manipulator with 5-DOF. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the method and the real time adjustment of the parameters.

Self-adapting control parameters modifieddifferential evolution for trajectoryplanning of manipulators

Control parameters of original differential evolution （DE） are kept fixed throughout the entire evolutionary process. However, it is not an easy task to properly set control parameters in DE for different optiinization problems. According to the relative position of two different individual vectors selected to generate a difference vector in the searching place, a self-adapting strategy for the scale factor F of the difference vector is proposed. In terms of the convergence status of the target vector in the current population, a self-adapting crossover probability constant CR strategy is proposed. Therefore, good target vectors have a lower CFI while worse target vectors have a large CFI. At the same time, the mutation operator is modified to improve the convergence speed. The performance of these proposed approaches are studied with the use of some benchmark problems and applied to the trajectory planning of a three-joint redundant manipulator. Finally, the experiment results show that the proposed approaches can greatly improve robustness and convergence speed.

Trajectory Tracking of a Planer Parallel Manipulator by Using Computed Force Control Method

Despite small workspace, parallel manipulators have some advantages over their serial counterparts in terms of higher speed, acceleration, rigidity, accuracy, manufacturing cost and payload. Accordingly, this type of manipulators can be used in many applications such as in high-speed machine tools, tuning machine for feeding, sensitive cutting, assembly and packaging. This paper presents a special type of planar parallel manipulator with three degrees of freedom. It is constructed as a variable geometry truss generally known planar Stewart platform. The reachable and orientation workspaces are obtained for this manipulator. The inverse kinematic analysis is solved for the trajectory tracking according to the redundancy and joint limit avoidance. Then, the dynamics model of the manipulator is established by using Virtual Work method. The simulations are performed to follow the given planar trajectories by using the dynamic equations of the variable geometry truss manipulator and computed force control method. In computed force control method, the feedback gain matrices for PD control are tuned with fixed matrices by trail end error and variable ones by means of optimization with genetic algorithm.

Dynamic Feedforward Control of a Novel 3-PSP 3-DOF Parallel Manipulator

Parallel manipulators with less than six degrees of freedom （DOF） have been increasingly used in high-speed hybrid machine tools. The structural features of parallel manipulators are dynamic, a characteristic that is particularly significant when these manipulators are used in high-speed machine tools. However, normal kinematic control method cannot satisfy the requirements of the control system. Many researchers use model-based dynamic control methods, such as the dynamic feedforward control method. However, these methods are rarely used in hybrid machine tools because of the complex dynamic model of the parallel manipulator. In order to study the dynamic control method of parallel manipulators, the dynamic feedforward control method is used in the dynamic control system of a 3-PSP （prismatic-spherical-prismatic） 3-DOF spatial parallel manipulator used as a spindle head in a high-speed hybrid machine tool. Using kinematic analysis as basis and the Newton-Euler method, we derive the dynamic model of the parallel manipulator. Furthermore, a model-based dynamic feedforward control system consisting of both kinematic control and dynamic control subsystems is established. The dynamic control subsystem consists of two modules. One is used to eliminate the influence of the dynamic characteristics of high-speed movement, and the other is used to eliminate the dynamic disturbances in the milling process. Finally, the simulation model of the dynamic feedforward control system of the 3-PSP parallel manipulator is constructed in Matlab/Simulink. The simulations of the control system eliminating the influence of the dynamic characteristics and dynamic disturbances are conducted. A comparative study between the simulations and the normal kinematic control method is also presented.The simulations prove that the dynamic feedforward control method effectively eliminates the influence of the dynamic disturbances and dynamic characteristics of the parallel manipulator on high-speed machine tools, and significantly improves the trajectory accuracy. This is the first attempt to introduce the dynamic feedfordward control method into the 3-PSP spatial parallel manipulator whose dynamic model is complex and provides a study basis for the real-time dynamic control of the high-speed hybrid machine tools.

Fuzzy Torque Control of the Bionic Flexible Manipulator Actuated by Pneumatic Muscle Actuators

A bionic flexible manipulator driven by pneumatic muscle actuator(PMA)can better reflect the flexibility of the mechanism.Current research on PMA mainly focuses on the modeling and control strategy of the pneumatic manipulator system.Compared with traditional electro-hydraulic actuators,the structure of PMA is simple but possesses strong nonlinearity and flexibility,which leads to the difficulty in improving the control accuracy.In this paper,the configuration design of a bionic flexible manipulator is performed by human physiological map,the kinematic model of the mechanism is established,and the dynamics is analyzed by Lagrange method.A fuzzy torque control algorithm is designed based on the computed torque method,where the fuzzy control theory is applied.The hardware experimental system is established.Through the co-simulation contrast test on MATLAB and ADAMS,it is found that the fuzzy torque control algorithm has better tracking performance and higher tracking accuracy than the computed torque method,and is applied to the entity control test.The experimental results show that the fuzzy torque algorithm can better control the trajectory tracking movement of the bionic flexible manipulator.This research proposes a fuzzy torque control algorithm which can compensate the error more effectively,and possesses the preferred trajectory tracking performance.

Adaptive nonlinear model predictive control design of a flexible-link manipulator with uncertain parameters

This paper presents a novel adaptive nonlinear model predictive control design for trajectory tracking of flexible-link manipulators consisting of feedback linearization, linear model predictive control, and unscented Kalman filtering. Reducing the nonlinear system to a linear system by feedback linearization simplifies the optimization problem of the model predictive controller significantly, which, however, is no longer linear in the presence of parameter uncertainties and can potentially lead to an undesired dynamical behaviour. An unscented Kalman filter is used to approximate the dynamics of the prediction model by an online parameter estimation, which leads to an adaptation of the optimization problem in each time step and thus to a better prediction and an improved input action. Finally, a detailed fuzzy-arithmetic analysis is performed in order to quantify the effect of the uncertainties on the control structure and to derive robustness assessments. The control structure is applied to a serial manipulator with two flexible links containing uncertain model parameters and acting in three-dimensional space.