Receding-Horizon Trajectory Planning for Under-Actuated Autonomous Vehicles Based on Collaborative Neurodynamic Optimization

This paper addresses a major issue in planning the trajectories of under-actuated autonomous vehicles based on neurodynamic optimization.A receding-horizon vehicle trajectory planning task is formulated as a sequential global optimization problem with weighted quadratic navigation functions and obstacle avoidance constraints based on given vehicle goal configurations.The feasibility of the formulated optimization problem is guaranteed under derived conditions.The optimization problem is sequentially solved via collaborative neurodynamic optimization in a neurodynamics-driven trajectory planning method/procedure.Simulation results with under-actuated unmanned wheeled vehicles and autonomous surface vehicles are elaborated to substantiate the efficacy of the neurodynamics-driven trajectory planning method.

Development of Gesture-Changeable under-actuated Humanoid Robotic Finger

Robotic fingers, which are the key parts of robot hand, are divided into two main kinds： dexterous fingers and under-actuated fingers. Although dexterous fingers are agile, they are too expensive. Under-actuated fingers can grasp objects self-adaptively, which makes them easy to control and low cost, on the contrary, under-actuated function makes fingers feel hard to grasp things agilely enough and make many gestures. For the purpose of designing a new finger which can grasp things dexterously, perform many gestures and feel easy to control and maintain, a concept called ＂gesture-changeable under-actuated＂ （GCUA） function is put forward. The GCUA function combines the advantages of dexterous fingers and under-actuated fingers： a pre-bending function is embedded into the under-actuated finger. The GCUA finger can not only perform self-adaptive grasping function, but also actively bend the middle joint of the finger. On the basis of the concept, a GCUA finger with 2 joints is designed, which is realized by the coordination of screw-nut transmission mechanism, flexible drawstring constraint and pulley-belt under-actuated mechanism. Principle analyses of its grasping and the design optimization of the GCUA finger are given. An important problem of how to stably grasp an object which is easy to glide is discussed. The force analysis on gliding object in grasping process is introduced in detail. A GCUA finger with 3 joints is developed. Many experiments of grasping different objects by of the finger were carried out. The experimental results show that the GCUA finger can effectively realize functions of pre-bending and self-adaptive grasping, the grasping processes are stable. The GCUA finger excels under-actuated fingers in dexterity and gesture actions and it is easier to control and cheaper than dexterous hands, becomes the third kinds of finger.

Fault tolerant attitude control of under-actuated spacecraft:Theory and experiment

This paper investigates fault tolerant attitude control theory and experiment for underactuated spacecraft with one reaction wheel completely broken and two others suffering actuator faults of partial loss of effectiveness or bias.A non-smooth robust adaptive fault tolerant control law is proposed under the zero-momentum and input saturation conditions.It shows that the available reaction wheels need to produce sufficient control torque for the fault tolerance.Such a new control method is implemented in a semi-physical simulation system of an air-bearing platform.Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in spacecraft practical engineering.

Trajectory Tracking Control for Under-Actuated Hovercraft Using Differential Flatness and Reinforcement Learning-Based Active Disturbance Rejection Control

This paper proposes a scheme of trajectory tracking control for the hovercraft.Since the model of the hovercraft is under-actuated,nonlinear,and strongly coupled,it is a great challenge for the controller design.To solve this problem,the control scheme is divided into two parts.Firstly,we employ differential flatness method to find a set of flat outputs and consider part of the nonlinear terms as uncertainties.Consequently,we convert the under-actuated system into a full-actuated one.Secondly,a reinforcement learning-based active disturbance rejection controller(RL-ADRC)is designed.In this method,an extended state observer(ESO)is designed to estimate the uncertainties of the system,and an actorcritic-based reinforcement learning(RL)algorithm is used to approximate the optimal control strategy.Based on the output of the ESO,the RL-ADRC compensates for the total uncertainties in real-time,and simultaneously,generates the optimal control strategy by RL algorithm.Simulation results show that,compared with the traditional ADRC method,RL-ADRC does not need to manually tune the controller parameters,and the control strategy is more robust.

Adaptive Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control of Under-actuated Nonlinear Systems

A new extension of the conventional adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control（AFSMC） scheme, for the case of under-actuated and uncertain affine multiple-input multiple-output（MIMO） systems, is presented. In particular, the assumption for non-zero diagonal entries of the input gain matrix of the plant is relaxed. In other words, the control effect of one actuator can propagate from a subgroup of canonical state equations to the rest of equations in an indirect sense. The asymptotic stability of the proposed AFSM control method is proved using a Lyapunov-based methodology. The effectiveness of the proposed method for the case of under-actuated systems is investigated in the presence of plant uncertainties and disturbances, through simulation studies.

Analysis of suitable geometrical parameters for designing a tendon-driven under-actuated mechanical finger

This study aims to optimize the geometrical parameters of an under-actuated mechanical finger by conducting a theoretical analysis of these parameters. The finger is actuated by a flexion tendon and an extension tendon. The considered parameters are the tendon guide positions with respect to the hinges. By applying such an optimization, the correct kinematical and dynamical behavior of the closing cycle of the finger can be obtained. The results of this study are useful for avoiding the snap- through and the single joint hyperflexion, which are the two breakdowns most frequently observed during experi- mentation on prototypes. Diagrams are established to identify the optimum values for the tendon guides position of a finger with specified dimensions. The findings of this study can serve as guide for future finger design.

Adaptive Tracking Control of Mobile Manipulators with Affine Constraints and Under-actuated Joints

Adaptive motion/force tracking control is considered for a class of mobile manipulators with affine constraints and under-actuated joints in the presence of uncertainties in this paper. Dynamic equation of mobile manipulator is transformed into a controllable form based on dynamic coupling technique. In view of the asymptotic tracking idea and adaptive theory, adaptive controllers are proposed to achieve the desired control objective. Detailed simulation results confirm the validity of the control strategy.

Multi-Objective Optimal Feedback Controls for Under-Actuated Dynamical System

This paper presents a study of optimal control design for a single-inverted pendulum(SIP)system with the multi-objective particle swarm optimization(MOPSO)algorithm.The proportional derivative(PD)control algorithm is utilized to control the system.Since the SIP system is nonlinear and the output(the pendulum angle)cannot be directly controlled(it is under-actuated),the PD control gains are not tuned with classical approaches.In this work,the MOPSO method is used to obtain the best PD gains.The use of multi-objective optimization algorithm allows the control design of the system without the need of linearization,which is not provided by using classical methods.The multi-objective optimal control design of the nonlinear system involves four design parameters(PD gains)and six objective functions(time-domain performance indices).The HausdorfF distances of consecutive Pareto sets,obtained in the MOPSO iterations,are computed to check the convergence of the MOPSO algorithm.The MOPSO algorithm finds the Pareto set and the Pareto front efficiently.Numerical simulations and experiments of the rotary inverted pendulum system are done to verify this design technique.Numerical and experimental results show that the multi-objective optimal controls offer a wide range of choices including the ones that have comparable performances to the linear quadratic regulator(LQR)control.

HIT anthropomorphic robotic hand and finger motion control

Nowadays many anthropomorphic robotic hands have been put forward. These hands emphasize different aspects according to their applications. HIT Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand (ARhand) is a simple, lightweight and dexterous design per the requirements of anthropomorphic robots. Underactuated self-adaptive theory is adopted to decrease the number of motors and weight. The fingers of HIT ARhand with multi phalanges have the same size as those of an adult hand. Force control is realized with the position sensor, joint torque sensor and fingertip torque sensor. From the 3D model, the whole hand, with the low power consumption DSP control board integrated in it, will weigh only 500 g. It will be assembled on a BIT-Anthropomorphic Robot.

Modelling and control of a spatial dynamic cable

We study the problem of dynamically controlling the shape of a cable that is fixed at one end and attached to an actuated robot at another end. This problem is relevant to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) tethered to a base. While rotorcrafts, such as quadcopters, are agile and versatile in their applications and have been widely used in scientific, industrial and military applications, one of the biggest challenges with such UAVs is their limited battery life that make the flight time for a typical UAVs limited to twenty to thirty minutes for most practical purposes. A solution to this problem lies in the use of cables that tether the UAV to a power outlet for constant power supply. However, the cable needs to be controlled effectively in order to avoid obstacles or other UAVs. In this paper, we develop methods for controlling the shape of a cable using actuation at one end. We propose a discrete model for the spatial cable and derive the equations governing the cable dynamics for both force controlled system and position controlled system. We design a controller to control the shape of the cable to attain the desired shape and perform simulations under different conditions. Finally, we propose a quasi-static model for the spatial cable and discuss the stability of this system and the proposed controller.

Periodic Motion Planning and Control for Double Rotary Pendulum via Virtual Holonomic Constraints

Periodic motion planning for an under-actuated system is rather difficult due to differential dynamic constraints imposed by passive dynamics, and it becomes more difficult for a system with higher underactuation degree, that is with a higher difference between the number of degrees of freedom and the number of independent control inputs. However, from another point of view, these constraints also mean some relation between state variables and could be used in the motion planning.We consider a double rotary pendulum, which has an underactuation degree 2. A novel periodic motion planning is presented based on an optimization search. A necessary condition for existence of the whole periodic trajectory is given because of the higher underactuation degree of the system. Moreover this condition is given to make virtual holonomic constraint(VHC) based control design feasible. Therefore, an initial guess for the optimization of planning a feasible periodic motion is based on this necessary condition. Then, VHCs are used for the system transformation and transverse linearization is used to design a static state feedback controller with periodic matrix function gain. The controller gain is found through another optimization procedure. The effectiveness of initial guess and performance of the closed-loop system are illustrated through numerical simulations.

Adaptive back-stepping control on container ships for path following

A feedback-dominance based adaptive back-stepping(FDBAB) controller is designed to drive a container ship to follow a predefined path. In reality, current, wave and wind act on the ship and produce unwanted disturbances to the ship control system.The FDBAB controller has to compensate for such disturbances and steer the ship to track the predefined(or desired) path. The difference between the actual and the desired path along which the ship is to sail is defined as the tracking error. The FDBAB controller is built on the tracking error model which is developed based on Serret-Frenet frame transformation(SFFT). In additional to being affected by external disturbances, the ship has more outputs than inputs(under-actuated), and is inherently nonlinear.The back-stepping controller in FDBAB is used to compensate the nonlinearity. The adaptive algorithms in FDBAB is employed to approximate disturbances. Lyapunov's direct method is used to prove the stability of the control system. The FDBAB controlled system is implemented in Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the controller in terms of successful path tracking and disturbance rejection.

Mechanical Design and Drive Control of a Novel Dexterous Hand for On-Orbit Servicing

In order to meet the requirements of on-orbit servicing outside the cabin, a flexible, dexterous hand with easy grasping ability and strong loading capacity is designed. The dexterous hand is comprised of three fingers. Each finger is driven by a set of four linkages. Furthermore, two fingers have a set of axial rotational degrees of freedom. In order to achieve the position control and keep griping stability, the dexterous hand adopts a mechanism of hybrid force/position control. In the end, experimental results demonstrates that the on-orbit servicing dexterous hand has great adaptability and operational capability.

Control of a Two-wheeled Machine with Two-directions Handling Mechanism Using PID and PD-FLC Algorithms

This paper presents a novel five degrees of freedom (DOF) two-wheeled robotic machine (TWRM) that delivers solutions for both industrial and service robotic applications by enlarging the vehicle′s workspace and increasing its flexibility. Designing a two-wheeled robot with five degrees of freedom creates a high challenge for the control, therefore the modelling and design of such robot should be precise with a uniform distribution of mass over the robot and the actuators. By employing the Lagrangian modelling approach, the TWRM′s mathematical model is derived and simulated in Matlab/Simulink?. For stabilizing the system′s highly nonlinear model, two control approaches were developed and implemented: proportional-integral-derivative (PID) and fuzzy logic control (FLC) strategies. Considering multiple scenarios with different initial conditions, the proposed control strategies′ performance has been assessed.

Reconfigurable fault-tolerant control for supersonic missiles with actuator failures under actuation redundancy

Aircraft undergoing actuator failures into under-actuation have been seldom studied in literature.Aiming at addressing actuator failures of Total Loss of Effectiveness(TLOE)as well as Partial Loss of Effectiveness(PLOE)resulting in different system actuations,reconfigurable FaultTolerant Control(FTC)is proposed for supersonic wingless missiles under actuation redundancy.The under-actuated system of TLOE failure patterns is solved by transformation to cascade systems through a’shape variable’.Meanwhile,actuator TLOE faults of different unknown failure patterns from proper actuation to under-actuation are accommodated by a reconfigurable adaptive law on a multiple-model basis.The backstepping technique with the Extended State Observer(ESO)method adopted as a basic strategy is applied to an established symmetric coupled missile system with actuator PLOE faults,modeling errors,and external disturbances.Additionally,the nonlinear saturation characteristics of actuators are settled by an auxiliary system with the Nussbaum function technique.The stability of the control system is analyzed and proven through Lyapunov theory.Numerical simulations are implemented in the presences of aerodynamic uncertainties,gust disturbance,and actuator failures.Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method with satisfactory tracking performance and actuator fault tolerance capacity.