Robust stabilization and disturbance attenuation for a class of underactuated mechanical systems

The robust control problem for a class of underactuated mechanical systems called acrobots is addressed. The goal is to drive the acrobots away from the straight-down position and balance them at the straight-up unstable equilibrium position in the presence of parametric uncertainties and external disturbance. First, in the swing-up area, it is shown that the time derivative of energy is independent of the parameter uncertainties, but exogenous disturbance may destroy the characteristic of increase in mechanical energy. So, a swing-up controller with compensator is designed to suppress the influence of the disturbance. Then, in the attractive area, the control problem is formulated into a H~ control framework by introducing a proper error signal, and a sufficient condition of the existence of Hoo state feedback control law based on linear matrix inequality （LMI） is proposed to guarantee the quadratic stability of the control system. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed control approach can simultaneously handle a maximum ±10% parameter perturbation and a big disturbance simultaneously.

Intelligent Integrated Control of Underactuated Mechanical Systems with Second-order Nonholonomic Constraints

This paper describes an intelligent integrated control of an acrobot, which is an underactuated mechanical system with second-order nonholonomic constraints. The control combines a model-free fuzzy control, a fuzzy sliding-mode control and a model-based fuzzy control. The model-free fuzzy controller designed for the upswing ensures that the energy of the acrobot increases with each swing. Then the fuzzy sliding-mode controller is employed to control the movement that the acrobot enters the balance area from the swing-up area. The model-based fuzzy controller, which is based on a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model, is used to balance the acrobot. The stability of the fuzzy control system for balance control is guaranteed by a common symmetric positive matrix, which satisfies linear matrix inequalities.

Controller design for 2-DOF underactuated mechanical systems based on controlled Lagrangians and application to Acrobot control

On the basis of controlled Lagrangians,a controller design is proposed for underactuated mechanical systems with two degrees of freedom.A new kinetic energy equation(K-equation)independent of the gyroscopic forces is found due to the use of their property.As a result,the necessary and sufficient matching condition comprises the new K-equation and the potential energy equation(P-equation)cascaded,the regular condition,and the explicit gyroscopic forces.Further,for two classes of input decoupled systems that cover the main benchmark examples,the new K-equation,respectively,degenerates from a quasilinear partial differential equation(PDE)into an ordinary differential equation(ODE)under some choice and into a homogeneous linear PDE with two kinds of explicit general solutions.Benefiting from one of the general solutions,the obtained smooth state feedback controller for the Acrobots is of a more general form.Specifically,a constant fixed in a related paper by the system parameters is converted into a controller parameter ranging over an open interval along with some new nonlinear terms involved.Unlike what is mentioned in the related paper,some categories of the Acrobots cannot be stabilized with the existing interconnection and damping assignment passivity based control(IDA-PBC)method.As a contribution,the system can be locally asymptotically stabilized by the selection of the new controller parameter except for only one special case.

An Anthropomorphic Robot Hand Developed Based on Underactuated Mechanism and Controlled by EMG Signals

When developing a humanoid myo-control hand,not only the mechanical structure should be considered to afford a high dexterity,but also the myoelectric (electromyography,EMG) control capability should be taken into account to fully accomplish the actuation tasks.This paper presents a novel humanoid robotic myocontrol hand (AR hand Ⅲ) which adopted an underac- tuated mechanism and a forearm myocontrol EMG method.The AR hand Ⅲ has five fingers and 15 joints,and actuated by three embedded motors.Underactuation can be found within each finger and between the rest three fingers (the middle finger,the ring finger and the little finger) when the hand is grasping objects.For the EMG control,two specific methods are proposed:the three-fingered hand gesture configuration of the AR hand Ⅲ and a pattern classification method of EMG signals based on a statistical learning algorithm-Support Vector Machine (SVM).Eighteen active hand gestures of a testee are recognized ef- fectively,which can be directly mapped into the motions of AR hand Ⅲ.An on-line EMG control scheme is established based on two different decision functions:one is for the discrimination between the idle and active modes,the other is for the recog- nition of the active modes.As a result,the AR hand Ⅲ can swiftly follow the gesture instructions of the testee with a time delay less than 100 ms.

Design Considerations for an Underactuated Robotic Finger Mechanism

A design approach is presented in this paper for underactuation in robotic finger mechanisms. The characters of underactuated finger mechanisms are introduced as based on linkage and spring systems. The feature of self-adaptive enveloping grasp by underactuated finger mechanisms is discussed with feasible in grasping unknown objects. The design problem of robotic fingers is analyzed by looking at many aspects for an optimal functionality. Design problems and requirements for underactuated mechanisms are formulated as related to human-like robotic fingers. In particular, characteristics of finger mechanisms are analyzed and optimality criteria are summarized with the aim to formulate a general design algorithm. A general multi-objective optimization design approach is applied as based on a suitable optimization problem by using suitable expressions of optimality criteria. An example is illustrated as an improvement of finger mechanism in Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics （LARM） Hand. Results of design outputs and grasp simulations are reported with the aim to show the practical feasibility of the proposed concepts and computations.

Tracked robot with underactuated tension-driven RRP transformable mechanism:ideas and design

Robots with transformable tracked mechanisms are widely used in complex terrains because of their high adaptability,and many studies on novel locomotion mechanisms have been conducted to make them able to climb higher obstacles.Developing underactuated transformable mechanisms for tracked robots could decrease the number of actuators used while maintaining the flexibility and obstacle-crossing capability of these robots,and increasing their cost performance.Therefore,the underactuated tracked robots have appreciable research potential.In this paper,a novel tracked robot with a newly proposed underactuated revolute‒revolute‒prismatic(RRP)transformable mechanism,which is inspired by the sit-up actions of humans,was developed.The newly proposed tracked robot has only two actuators installed on the track pulleys for moving and does not need extra actuators for transformations.Instead,it could concentrate the track belt’s tension toward one side,and the unbalanced tension would drive the linkage mechanisms to change its configuration.Through this method,the proposed underactuated design could change its external shape to create support points with the terrain and move its center of mass actively at the same time while climbing obstacles or crossing other kinds of terrains,thus greatly improving the climbing capability of the robot.The geometry and kinematic relationships of the robot and the crossing strategies for three kinds of typical obstacles are discussed.On the basis of such crossing motions,the parameters of links in the robot are designed to make sure the robot has sufficient stability while climbing obstacles.Terrain-crossing dynamic simulations were run and analyzed to prove the feasibility of the robot.A prototype was built and tested.Experiments show that the proposed robot could climb platforms with heights up to 33.3%of the robot’s length or cross gaps with widths up to 43.5%of the robot’s length.

Humanoid Design of Mechanical Fingers Using a Motion Coupling and Shape-adaptive Linkage Mechanism

This paper proposes a novel underactuated finger mechanism based on a motion coupling and shape-adaptive linkage design that combines anthropomorphic free motion and adaptive grasping. The proposed three-joint finger mechanism with one active Degree of Freedom （DOF） consists of a five-linkage meehanism in the proximal phalanx and a mechanism comprising two parallel planar four-bar linkages in the middle phalanx. The respective mechanism allows the simultaneously rotation of their corresponding pha- langes in the plane before making contact with an object, and can fully envelop an object, even if certain phalanges are blocked. The duel parallel four-bar linkage mechanism is adopted to improve the grasping capacity of the distal phalanx. An optimal design of the finger is presented according to anthropomorphic phalanx trajectories and maximized grasping forces obtained with consideration for the angular velocity relationships of the three phalanges and their force transmission performances. The functionality of the proposed finger mechanism is verified through multiple simulations and grasping experiments using a prototype finger.

Kinematic Analysis of an Under-actuated,Closed-loop Front-end Assembly of a Dragline Manipulator

Dragline excavators are closed-loop mining manipulators that operate using a rigid multilink framework and rope and rigging system,which constitute its front-end assembly.The arrangements of dragline front-end assembly provide the necessary motion of the dragline bucket within its operating radius.The assembly resembles a five-link closed kinematic chain that has two independent generalized coordinates of drag and hoist ropes and one dependent generalized coordinate of dump rope.Previous models failed to represent the actual closed loop of dragline front-end assembly,nor did they describe the maneuverability of dragline ropes under imposed geometric constraints.Therefore,a three degrees of freedom kinematic model of the dragline front-end is developed using the concept of generalized speeds.It contains all relevant configuration and kinematic constraint conditions to perform complete digging and swinging cycles.The model also uses three inputs of hoist and drag ropes linear and a rotational displacement of swinging along their trajectories.The inverse kinematics is resolved using a feedforward displacement algorithm coupled with the Newton-Raphson method to accurately estimate the trajectories of the ropes.The trajectories are solved only during the digging phase and the singularity was eliminated using Baumgarte's stabilization technique(BST),with appropriate inequality constraint equations.It is shown that the feedforward displacement algorithm can produce accurate trajectories without the need to manually solve the inverse kinematics from the geometry.The research findings are well in agreement with the dragline real operational limits and they contribute to the efficiency and the reduction in machine downtime due to better control strategies of the dragline cycles.