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.

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.

Development of a Stereo Vision-based Pick and Place System for Robotic Manipulators

Conventional robotic manipulators consist of touch and vision sensors in order to pick and place differently shaped objects.Due to the technology development and degrading sensors over a long period,the stereo vision technique has become a promising alternative.In this study,a low-cost stereo vision-based system,and a gripper to be placed at the end of the robot arm(Fanuc M10 iA/12)are developed for position and orientation estimation of robotic manipulators to pick and place different shaped objects.The stereo vision system developed in this research is used to estimate the position(X,Y,Z),orientation(P_(y))of the Center of Volume of four standard objects(cube,cuboid,cylinder,and sphere)whereas the robot arm with the gripper is used to mechanically pick and place the objects.The stereo vision system is placed on the movable robot arm,and it consists of two cameras to capture two 2D views of a stationary object to derive 3D depth information in 3D space.Moreover,a graphical user interface is developed to train a linear regression model,live predict the coordinates of the objects,and check the accuracy of the predicted data.The graphical user interface can also send predicted coordinates and angles to the gripper and the robot arm.The project is facilitated with python programming language modules and image processing techniques.Identification of the stationary object and estimation of its coordinates is done using image processing techniques.The final product can be identified as a device that converts conventional robot arms without an image processing vision system into a highly precise and accurate robot arm with an image processing vision system.Experimental studies are performed to test the efficiency and effectiveness of used techniques and the gripper prototype.Necessary actions are taken to minimize the errors in position and orientation estimation.In addition,as a future implementation,an embedded system will be developed with a user-friendly software interface to install the vision system into the Fanuc M10 iA/12 robot arm and will upgrade the system to a device that can be implemented with any kind of customized robot arms available in the industry.

Adaptive Leader-Follower Consensus Control of Multiple Flexible Manipulators With Actuator Failures and Parameter Uncertainties

In this paper,the leader-follower consensus problem for a multiple flexible manipulator network with actuator failures,parameter uncertainties,and unknown time-varying boundary disturbances is addressed.The purpose of this study is to develop distributed controllers utilizing local interactive protocols that not only suppress the vibration of each flexible manipulator but also achieve consensus on joint angle position between actual followers and the virtual leader.Following the accomplishment of the reconstruction of the fault terms and parameter uncertainties,the adaptive neural network method and parameter estimation technique are employed to compensate for unknown items and bounded disturbances.Furthermore,the Lyapunov stability theory is used to demonstrate that followers’angle consensus errors and vibration deflections in closed-loop systems are uniformly ultimately bounded.Finally,the numerical simulation results confirm the efficacy of the proposed controllers.

Kinematic Control of Serial Manipulators Under False Data Injection Attack

With advanced communication technologies,cyberphysical systems such as networked industrial control systems can be monitored and controlled by a remote control center via communication networks.While lots of benefits can be achieved with such a configuration,it also brings the concern of cyber attacks to the industrial control systems,such as networked manipulators that are widely adopted in industrial automation.For such systems,a false data injection attack on a control-center-to-manipulator(CC-M)communication channel is undesirable,and has negative effects on the manufacture quality.In this paper,we propose a resilient remote kinematic control method for serial manipulators undergoing a false data injection attack by leveraging the kinematic model.Theoretical analysis shows that the proposed method can guarantee asymptotic convergence of the regulation error to zero in the presence of a type of false data injection attack.The efficacy of the proposed method is validated via simulations.

Fault Diagnosis in Robot Manipulators Using SVM and KNN

In this paper,Support Vector Machine(SVM)and K-Nearest Neighbor(KNN)based methods are to be applied on fault diagnosis in a robot manipulator.A comparative study between the two classifiers in terms of successfully detecting and isolating the seven classes of sensor faults is considered in this work.For both classifiers,the torque,the position and the speed of the manipulator have been employed as the input vector.However,it is to mention that a large database is needed and used for the training and testing phases.The SVM method used in this paper is based on the Gaussian kernel with the parametersγand the penalty margin parameter“C”,which were adjusted via the PSO algorithm to achieve a maximum accuracy diagnosis.Simulations were carried out on the model of a Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm(SCARA)robot manipulator,and the results showed that the Particle Swarm Optimization(PSO)increased the per-formance of the SVM algorithm with the 96.95%accuracy while the KNN algo-rithm achieved a correlation up to 94.62%.These results showed that the SVM algorithm with PSO was more precise than the KNN algorithm when was used in fault diagnosis on a robot manipulator.

A single micro-LED manipulation system based on micro-gripper

Micro-LEDs(μLEDs)have advantages in terms of brightness,power consumption,and response speed.In addition,they can also be used as micro-sensors implanted in the body via flexible electronic skin.One of the key techniques involved in the fabrication ofμLED-based devices is transfer printing.Although numerous methods have been proposed for transfer printing,improving the yield ofμLED arrays is still a formidable task.In this paper,we propose a novel method for improving the yield ofμLED arrays transferred by the stamping method,using an innovative design of piezoelectrically driven asymmetric micro-gripper.Traditional grippers are too large to manipulateμLEDs,and therefore two micro-sized cantilevers are added at the gripper tips.AμLED manipulation system is constructed based on the micro-gripper together with a three-dimensional positioning system.Experimental results using this system show that it can be used successfully to manipulateμLED arrays.

Pre‑hatch thermal manipulation of embryos and post‑hatch baicalein supplementation mitigated heat stress in broiler chickens

Background High environmental temperatures induce heat stress in broiler chickens,affecting their health and pro-duction performance.Several dietary,managerial,and genetics strategies have been tested with some success in mitigating heat stress(HS)in broilers.Developing novel HS mitigation strategies for sustaining broiler production is critically needed.This study investigated the effects of pre-hatch thermal manipulation(TM)and post-hatch baica-lein supplementation on growth performance and health parameters in heat-stressed broilers.Results Six hundred fertile Cobb 500 eggs were incubated for 21 d.After candling on embryonic day(ED)10,238 eggs were thermally manipulated at 38.5℃ with 55%relative humidity(RH)from ED 12 to 18,then transferred to the hatcher(ED 19 to 21,standard temperature)and 236 eggs were incubated at a controlled temperature(37.5℃)till hatch.After hatch,180-day-old chicks from both groups were raised in 36 pens(n=10 birds/pen,6 replicates per treatment).The treatments were:1)Control,2)TM,3)control heat stress(CHS),4)thermal manipulation heat stress(TMHS),5)control heat stress supplement(CHSS),and 6)thermal manipulation heat stress supplement(TMHSS).All birds were raised under the standard environment for 21 d,followed by chronic heat stress from d 22 to 35(32–33℃ for 8 h)in the CHS,TMHS,CHSS,and TMHSS groups.A thermoneutral(22–24℃)environment was maintained in the Control and TM groups.RH was constant(50%±5%)throughout the trial.All the data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA in R and GraphPad software at P<0.05 and are presented as mean±SEM.Heat stress significantly decreased(P<0.05)the final body weight and ADG in CHS and TMHS groups compared to the other groups.Embryonic TM significantly increased(P<0.05)the expression of heat shock protein-related genes(HSP70,HSP90,and HSPH1)and antioxidant-related genes(GPX1 and TXN).TMHS birds showed a significant increment(P<0.05)in total cecal volatile fatty acid(VFA)concentration compared to the CHS birds.The cecal microbial analysis showed significant enrichment(P<0.05)in alpha and beta diversity and Coprococcus in the TMHSS group.Conclusions Pre-hatch TM and post-hatch baicalein supplementation in heat-stressed birds mitigate the detrimental effects of heat stress on chickens’growth performance,upregulate favorable gene expression,increase VFA produc-tion,and promote gut health by increasing beneficial microbial communities.

Gravity-Based Kinetostatic Modeling of Parallel Manipulators Using Screw Theory

The pose accuracy of parallel manipulators(PMs)is a key index to measure their performance.Establishing the grav-ity-based kinetostatic model of a parallel robot provides an important basis for its error composition and accuracy improvement.In this paper,a kinetostatic modeling approach that takes real gravity distribution into consideration is proposed to analyze the influence of gravity on the infinitesimal twist and actuator forces of PMs.First,the duality of the twist screw and constraint wrenches are used to derive the gravity-attached constraint wrenches independent of the external load and the limb stiffness matrix corresponding to the kinematics-based constraint wrenches.Sec-ond,the gravity model of the mechanism is established based on the screw theory and the principle of virtual work.Finally,the analytical formulas of the infinitesimal twist and the actuator force of PMs are obtained,and the influences of the external load,platform gravity,and rod gravity on the stiffness of the mechanism are decoupled.The non-overconstrained 3RPS and overconstrained 2PRU-UPR PMs are taken as examples to verify the proposed method.This research proposes a methodology to analyze the infinitesimal deformation of the mechanism under the influence of gravity.

Non-Negative Adaptive Mechanism-Based Sliding Mode Control for Parallel Manipulators with Uncertainties

In this paper,a non-negative adaptive mechanism based on an adaptive nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control strategy is proposed to have finite time and high-speed trajectory tracking for parallel manipulators with the existence of unknown bounded complex uncertainties and external disturbances.The proposed approach is a hybrid scheme of the online non-negative adaptive mechanism,tracking differentiator,and nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control(NFTSMC).Based on the online non-negative adaptive mechanism,the proposed control can remove the assumption that the uncertainties and disturbances must be bounded for the NFTSMC controllers.The proposed controller has several advantages such as simple structure,easy implementation,rapid response,chattering-free,high precision,robustness,singularity avoidance,and finite-time convergence.Since all control parameters are online updated via tracking differentiator and non-negative adaptive law,the tracking control performance at high-speed motions can be better in real-time requirement and disturbance rejection ability.Finally,simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A 1-bit electronically reconfigurable beam steerable metasurface reflectarray with multiple polarization manipulations

A 1-bit electronically controlled metasurface reflectarray is presented to achieve beam steering with multiple polarization manipulations. A metsurface unit cell loaded by two PIN diodes is designed. By switching the two PIN diodes between ON and OFF states, the isotropic and anisotropic reflections can be flexibly achieved. For either the isotropic reflection or the anisotropic reflection, the two operation states achieve the reflection coefficients with approximately equal magnitude and 180°out of phase, thus giving rise to the isotropic/anisotropic 1-bit metasurface unit cells. With the 1-bit unit cells, a 12-by-12 metasurface reflectarray is optimally designed and fabricated. Under either y-or x-polarized incident wave illumination, the reflectarray can achieve the co-polarized and cross-polarized beam scanning, respectively, with the peak gains of 20.08 d Bi and 17.26 d Bi within the scan range of about ±50°. With the right-handed circular polarization(RHCP) excitation, the left-handed circular polarization(LHCP) radiation with the peak gain of 16.98 d Bic can be achieved within the scan range of ±50°. Good agreement between the experimental results and the simulation results are observed for 2D beam steering and polarization manipulation capabilities.

Triboelectric‘electrostatic tweezers'for manipulating droplets on lubricated slippery surfaces prepared by femtosecond laser processing

The use of‘Electrostatic tweezers'is a promising tool for droplet manipulation,but it faces many limitations in manipulating droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces.Here,we achieve noncontact and multifunctional droplet manipulation on Nepenthes-inspired lubricated slippery surfaces via triboelectric electrostatic tweezers(TETs).The TET manipulation of droplets on a slippery surface has many advantages over electrostatic droplet manipulation on a superhydrophobic surface.The electrostatic field induces the redistribution of the charges inside the neutral droplet,which causes the triboelectric charged rod to drive the droplet to move forward under the electrostatic force.Positively or negatively charged droplets can also be driven by TET based on electrostatic attraction and repulsion.TET enables us to manipulate droplets under diverse conditions,including anti-gravity climb,suspended droplets,corrosive liquids,low-surface-tension liquids(e.g.ethanol with a surface tension of 22.3 mN·m^(-1)),different droplet volumes(from 100 nl to 0.5 ml),passing through narrow slits,sliding over damaged areas,on various solid substrates,and even droplets in an enclosed system.Various droplet-related applications,such as motion guidance,motion switching,droplet-based microreactions,surface cleaning,surface defogging,liquid sorting,and cell labeling,can be easily achieved with TETs.

Manipulator tracking technology based on FSRUKF

Aiming at the shortcoming that the traditional industrial manipulator using off-line programming cannot change along with the change of external environment,the key technologies such as machine vision and manipulator control are studied,and a complete manipulator vision tracking system is designed.Firstly,Denavit-Hartenberg(D-H)parameters method is used to construct the model of the manipulator and analyze the forward and inverse kinematics equations of the manipulator.At the same time,a binocular camera is used to obtain the threedimensional position of the target.Secondly,in order to make the manipulator track the target more accurately,the fuzzy adaptive square root unscented Kalman filter(FSRUKF)is proposed to estimate the target state.Finally,the manipulator tracking system is built by using the position-based visual servo.The simulation experiments show that FSRUKF converges faster and with less error than the square root unscented Kalman filter(SRUKF),which meets the application requirements of the manipulator tracking system,and basically meets the application requirements of the manipulator tracking system in the practical experiments.

Vibration Reduction of Open-chain Flexible Manipulators by Optimizing Independent Motions of Branch Links

In order to suppress vibration in flexible manipulators, a new type of manipulator mechanism with controllable local degrees of freedom is proposed. This mechanism consists of a main chain and some branch links. The main chain is of a flexible open-chain configuration with an end-effector installed at its tip, and the rigid branch links are able to perform active movements. It is proved by kinematics and dynamic analysis that, the branch links bear no direct kinematic relation to the main chain, but their independent motions can strongly affect the dynamic behavior and performance of the flexible manipulator. Then comes a new idea of suppressing vibration, in which independent motions of the branch links are used to suppress the undesired vibration of the flexible main chain through dynamic coupling. On this basis, an optimal method for reducing vibration of flexible manipulators is proposed. Finally, the effectiveness of this method is verified by numerical simulations.

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.

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.

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.

Kinematics and Dynamics Hessian Matrices of Manipulators Based on Screw Theory

The complexity of the kinematics and dynamics of a manipulator makes it necessary to simplify the modeling process.However,the traditional representations cannot achieve this because of the absence of coordinate invariance.Therefore,the coordinate invariant method is an important research issue.First,the rigid-body acceleration,the time derivative of the twist,is proved to be a screw,and its physical meaning is explained.Based on the twist and the rigid-body acceleration,the acceleration of the end-effector is expressed as a linear-bilinear form,and the kinematics Hessian matrix of the manipulator（represented by Lie bracket）is deduced.Further,Newton-Euler＇s equation is rewritten as a linear-bilinear form,from which the dynamics Hessian matrix of a rigid body is obtained.The formulae and the dynamics Hessian matrix are proved to be coordinate invariant.Referring to the principle of virtual work,the dynamics Hessian matrix of the parallel manipulator is gotten and the detailed dynamic model is derived.An index of dynamical coupling based on dynamics Hessian matrix is presented.In the end,a foldable parallel manipulator is taken as an example to validate the deduced kinematics and dynamics formulae.The screw theory based method can simplify the kinematics and dynamics of a manipulator,also the corresponding dynamics Hessian matrix can be used to evaluate the dynamical coupling of a manipulator.

Geometric Approach for Kinematic Analysis of a Class of 2-DOF Rotational Parallel Manipulators

Euler angles are commonly used as the orientation representation of most two degrees of freedom（2-DOF） rotational parallel mechanisms（RPMs）,as a result,the coupling of two angle parameters leads to complexity of kinematic model of this family of mechanisms.While a simple analytical kinematic model with respect to those parameters representing the geometrical characteristics of the mechanism,is very helpful to improve the performance of RPMs.In this paper,a new geometric kinematic modeling approach based on the concept of instantaneous single-rotation-angle is proposed and used for the 2-DOF RPMs with symmetry in a homo-kinetic plane.To authors＇ knowledge,this is a new contribution to parallel mechanisms.By means of this method,the forwards kinematics of 2-DOF RPMs is derived in a simple way,and three cases i.e.4-4R mechanism（Omni-wrist III）,spherical five-bar one,and 3-RSR1-SS one demonstrate the validity of the proposed geometric method.In addition,a novel 2-DOF RPM architecture with virtual center-of-motion is presented by aid of the same method.The result provides a useful tool for simplifying the model and extending the application of the RPMs.

Collision Avoidance of Cooperative Dual Redundant Manipulators

Dual redundant manipulators are extremely useful for tasks in dangerous or space environments, but efficient and real time coordinated control is hard to achieve. Collision avoidance between two cooperative manipulators is vital to the successful applications of dual redundant manipulators. Although methods based on the distance function have been demonstrated simple and efficient, different collision avoidance points can usually produce completely different results and even failure. The paper discussed the choices of collision avoidance points and proposed a novel method for the choosing of those points. The method is testified by simulation results of two redundant planar manipulators.