Control Method For Manipulators Research Articles

Event-triggered learning-based robust tracking control for robotic manipulators with uncertain dynamics and non-zero equilibrium

This paper presents a novel optimal tracking control method for robotic manipulators (RMs) with system uncertainties and non-zero equilibrium points. The existing tracking control methods typically require the precise system dynamics and assume the existence of a zero equilibrium point, which may not always be true in practice. To overcome this issue, a new cost function with respect to the first derivative of system states and a known upper bound on the system’s mismatched disturbances is designed, and then an optimal control problem of RMs is formulated. Furthermore, to solve this optimization, an event-triggered critic learning control framework is proposed to estimate the solution of Hamilton–Jacobi-Bellman equation, reducing the computational burden. In the critic learning control designs, novel weight updating laws related to system stability information are proposed to train the critic neural networks, which eliminates the initial stabilization requirement. Theoretical analysis shows that the stability of the closed-loop system in the sense of uniform ultimate boundedness is ensured. It should be emphasized that the proposed control method offers a simplification of the tracking controller design process and removes the restriction on system dynamics. Finally, simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Integral reinforcement learning-based event-triggered optimal tracking control for modular robot manipulators via non-zero-sum game

Abstract Under an event-triggered mechanism, a non-zero-sum (NZS) game optimal tracking control method for modular robot manipulator (MRM) systems with input constraints is proposed using the adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) method based on integral reinforcement learning (IRL). First, a dynamic model of the MRM system is developed based on joint torque feedback technology, consisting of an n-joint subsystem related to interconnected dynamic coupling (IDC). Second, we design a robust compensation controller to handle the known model term and an optimal compensation controller to deal with the uncertainty term caused by the IDC and friction, respectively. In addition, a nonlinear disturbance observer is established to dispose of the negative effects caused by the uncertain sensor output disturbance. Third, based on differential game theory, we transform the optimal tracking control problem of the MRM system into an n-player NZS game problem. Then, the IRL-based ADP method is adopted, which relaxes the need for system partial unknown dynamic information, and only a critic neural network is used to solve the coupled Hamilton–Jacobi equation, so as to obtain the optimal control policy. Then, using Lyapunov theory, the tracking error of the MRM system is demonstrated to be uniformly ultimately bounded. Finally, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed algorithm are verified through experiments.

Interval uncertainty-oriented impedance force control for space manipulator with time-dependent reliability

For specific missions of spacecraft including on-orbit assembly, docking, grasp, etc., the presence of uncertainties leads to difficulties in the analysis of impedance force control systems and evaluations of safety for space manipulators. Therefore, in this study, a novel interval uncertainty-oriented impedance force control method for space manipulators with time-dependent reliability was established. The proposed method can accurately and rapidly characterize uncertainties. Additionally, it can reflect the reliability of a control system based on an overall time history. Once the uncertainties of the dynamic models and state responses are known, their uncertainty bounds can be obtained using an established non-probabilistic propagation method with high accuracy. An interval process model and the first passage theory are employed in the non-probabilistic time-dependent model. A joint reliability index is established based on the single reliability indexes, which can more efficiently evaluate the control system reliability than the individual indexes. A numerical example related to space manipulator is used to study the developed impedance force control method and verify the effectiveness of the method. The results from the response curves reveal validity of the proposed method, while the reduction in time proves efficiency of the method.

An intelligent control method for a flexible-link manipulator with uncertain backlash and model uncertainty

This study examines a new intelligent control method for a single-link flexible manipulator that addresses backlash and model uncertainty. First, a smooth backlash inverse model is constructed to mitigate backlash nonlinearity. Subsequently, a ‘disturbance-like’ term is formulated to recharacterize the coupled term composed of external disturbances and model uncertainty. A new adaptive controller is proposed to compensate for the unknown ‘disturbance-like’ term. Using the proposed control method, the stability of the system is evaluated using the direct Lyapunov theory, ensuring uniform ultimate boundedness. Finally, numerical simulations and experiments are conducted using the Quanser platform. The numerical simulation and experimental results show that the proposed control can ensure a faster convergence rate and effectively reduce actuator input chattering.

Fractional order adaptive sliding mode control method of manipulator

A new controller (NAFOFTSMC) is designed and successfully applied to the manipulator system. Compared with traditional integer-order sliding mode control methods (IOSMC), the fractional order sliding mode control method (FOSMC) adopted additional degrees of freedom and, to some extent, weakens the drawback of sliding mode control chattering problem. Fractional-order adaptive rate compensation is utilized to compensate for the total disturbance set of the system. The new sliding surface reduces the derivative signals that are difficult to obtain due to external interference and other factors in the robotic arm system. It also reduces the unknown parameters for adjustment, increases the proportion term, and thus enables the system to have higher control accuracy and shorter adjustment time. While designing the controller, the stability is proved at the end of the fourth section. At the same time, this control method was compared and analyzed with IOSMC, simple FOSMC, and a Pre-improved controller (AFOFTSMC).

Adaptive neural network backstepping control method for aerial manipulator based on coupling disturbance compensation

The aerial manipulator, designed for complex aerial tasks, encounters multifaceted operational environments influenced by various internal and external disturbances. This paper introduces an adaptive neural network backstepping control technique fortified with coupling disturbance compensation to enhance the resilience of the aerial manipulator against these disturbances. Firstly, we propose a cutting-edge coupling disturbance feedforward compensator based on variable inertia parameters, which offers precise and prompt compensation for significant internal coupling disturbances without needing external sensors or alternative disturbance estimation techniques. Subsequently, radial basis function neural networks with an online adaptive weight updating mechanism are designed to estimate and counteract lumped disturbances stemming from unmodeled dynamics, uncertainties, and external factors in real-time. Utilizing the Lyapunov stability criteria, we validate that the aerial manipulator can reliably track desired trajectories under our proposed controller. Experimental results and simulations further underscore the effectiveness and superiority of our control approach.

Hysteresis Compensation-Based Intelligent Control for Pneumatic Artificial Muscle-Driven Humanoid Robot Manipulators With Experiments Verification

Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs), as a kind of soft actuators, can overcome compliance limitations of traditional rigid actuators to improve the adaptability of robots. However, some inherent strong nonlinearities and time-varying properties of PAMs, e.g., complex hysteresis and creep, may lead to a lot of control problems. In addition, PAM-driven systems are also faced with input constraints (e.g., deadzones, saturations, and unidirectional inputs), unknown/unmodeled dynamics and external disturbances, which badly degrade the control performance and even cause accidents. Therefore, this paper proposes a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">new</i> hysteresis compensation-based immersion and invariance (I&I) adaptive fuzzy control method for PAM-driven humanoid robot manipulators, which can approximate the unknown functions and estimate the unknown parameters. To our knowledge, this is the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">first</i> method for PAM-driven systems that compensates for system nonlinearities ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">not only</i> complex hysteresis, <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">but also</i> input deadzones) by utilizing the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">prior</i> information in inverse hysteresis models, and <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">simultaneously</i> estimates the unknown functions and parameters by designing a fuzzy update law and a parameter update law based on I&I methodology, respectively, which increases the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">control frequency</i> of systems and improves tracking performance during high-speed motions. Finally, we apply the proposed approach on a self-built PAM-driven humanoid robot manipulator to validate its effectiveness and robustness. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —Faced with the practical requirements of robots that interact closely with humans, improving the adaptability and compliance of robots by utilizing soft actuators, such as PAMs, can satisfy current demands. Moreover, PAMs also have many expective characteristics (e.g., high power density, light material, low costs, clean power, etc.), which makes PAMs occupy an important status in the field of soft robotics. However, unknown parameters/structures, strong nonlinearities, and input constraints, may badly degrade the control performance of PAMs. Based on the above characteristics, this paper proposes a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">new</i> hysteresis compensation-based adaptive fuzzy controller for PAM-driven humanoid robot manipulators, which realizes <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">accurate tracking</i> control during high-speed motions by using inverse hysteresis models to compensate for strong nonlinearities in PAMs, and a fuzzy update law and a parameter update law based on I&I methodology are utilized to estimate unknown parameters/structures. In addition, the proposed controller can <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">simultaneously</i> compensate for input deadzones by utilizing the hysteresis information, which improves the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">control frequency</i> of the manipulators, and can rapidly suppress tracking errors. Experimental results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the presented method. In the future, more effective compensation methods, such as rate-dependent hysteresis models, will further be carried out to compensate for system nonlinearities.

Metaheuristic adaptive control based on polynomial regression and differential evolution for robotic manipulators

Adaptive control of systems consists of the online adjustment of their control parameters to deal with parametric uncertainties and disturbances. Indirect Adaptive Control (IAC) of electromechanical systems and robotic manipulators based on metaheuristic optimization has been shown to be competitive compared to other classical and advanced control schemes. In this approach, the identification of system model parameters is stated as an optimization problem and then solved online by metaheuristics. Subsequently, the identified model is used in a second stage of online metaheuristic optimization to predict the system behavior and tune its control parameters. Therefore, this approach can be computationally expensive and unaffordable for systems with more complex dynamics whose models are just as complex. Due to the above, this work proposes an indirect adaptive control method for robotic manipulators based on differential evolution (DE) optimization, which aims to reduce the computational cost of the online identification stage by using Polynomial Regressors (PR) whose adjustment can be performed through a closed-form solution. The proposed method is tested in simulation for a 2 d.o.f. robotic manipulator and the results are compared against the original indirect adaptive control approach based on metaheuristic optimization and also a controller optimized offline. The post-hoc pair-wise Friedman tests confirm that the proposed approach provides competitive results compared to the original approach, with significant savings in computational resources.

Active 6 DoF Force/Torque Control Based on Dynamic Jacobian for Free-Floating Space Manipulator

Abstract In-orbit capture of a non-cooperative satellite will be a major challenge in the proposed servicing and active debris removal missions. The contact forces between the manipulator end-effector and the elements of the target object will occur in the grasping phase. In this paper, an active 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) force/torque control method for manipulator mounted on a free-floating servicing satellite is proposed. The main aim of the presented method is to balance the relation between end-effector position and force along each direction in the Cartesian space. The control law is based on the Dynamic Jacobian, which takes into account the influence of the manipulator motion on the state of the servicing satellite. The proposed approach is validated in numerical simulations with a simplified model of contact. Comparison with the classical Cartesian control shows that the active 6 DoF force/torque control method allows to obtain better positioning accuracy of the end-effector and lower control torques in manipulator joints in the presence of external forces.

Safe and compliant control of redundant robots using superimposition of passive task-space controllers

Animals are capable of robust and reliable control in unstructured environments, where they effortlessly overcome the uncertainty of interaction and are capable of exploiting singularities. These conditions are a well-known challenge for robots due to the limitations of projected dynamics, which requires accurate modelling and is susceptible to singularities. This work proposes a compliant passive control method for redundant manipulators based on a superimposition of multiple passive task-space controllers in a hierarchy without requiring any knowledge of the robot dynamics. The proposed control framework of passive controllers is inherently stable, numerically well-conditioned (as no matrix inversions are required), and computationally inexpensive (as no optimisation is used). This method leverages and introduces a novel stiffness profile for a recently proposed passive controller with smooth transitions between the divergence and convergence phases making it particularly suitable when multiple passive controllers are combined through superimposition. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves sub-centimetre tracking performance during demanding dynamic tasks with fast-changing references, while remaining safe to interact with and robust to singularities. The data further show that the robot can fully take advantage of the redundancy to maintain the primary task accuracy while compensating for unknown environmental interactions, which is not possible from current frameworks that require accurate contact information.

Dynamic analysis and sliding mode control method of 5-DOF manipulator

Background The five degree of freedom (5-DOF) manipulator greatly improves the machining efficiency and accuracy because of its high flexibility. They see wide application in various automation fields. The dynamic analysis and modeling of manipulators is of great significance to improve the working accuracy of a manipulator. Methods For the robot task of sheet metal bending, a 5-DOF manipulator based on sliding mode control strategy is designed in this paper. Firstly, the dynamics of the 5-DOF manipulator is analyzed and the dynamic equation is established. Secondly, based on the principle of sliding mode control, a proportional integral (PI) sliding mode control method for 5-DOF manipulator based on nominal model is proposed. PI sliding mode control method has the advantages of solving system deviation problem, eliminating steady-state error, strong adaptability, good robustness, sliding mode design and easy implementation. Finally, the sliding mode control simulation experiment of 5-DOF manipulator is carried out to verify its stability. Results The 5-DOF manipulator with PI sliding mode control has a good control effect by overcoming the influence of modeling error due to its strong robustness, and effectively realizes good control stability. Conclusions The experimental results show that the 5-DOF manipulator has good response speed and stability. The results also suggest that the manipulator can be widely used in complex scenarios such as medical surgery or industrial production line with high safety requirements.

Trajectory planning and control of large robotic excavators based on inclination-displacement mapping

This paper proposes a trajectory planning and control method for heavy-duty manipulators based on inclination-displacement mapping. In this method, inclination sensors are employed to detect the excavator's orientation. By establishing a mapping relationship between joint inclination and cylinder displacement, the cylinder displacement is indirectly derived. Subsequently, considering the typical excavation operation process, the spatial trajectory of the excavator bucket is planned. The displacement of the driving cylinder is determined using kinematic inverse solutions and cubic polynomials. The cylinder displacement is then controlled using a position-velocity (PV) strategy. This method is tested on a 95-ton large excavator, and the results demonstrate several advantages, including easy installation, low maintenance requirements, smooth trajectory planning, and high tracking accuracy. These qualities make it suitable for the demands of intelligent operations in large excavators. Thus, this paper offers valuable insights for the intelligent transformation of heavy excavators.

Research and analysis of manipulator control method based on deep learning

Aiming at the stability and accuracy of grasping objects, this paper studies the adaptive neural network control and learning of manipulator control system with unknown system dynamics. First, a stable adaptive neural network (NN) controller is designed, and the unknown closed-loop system dynamics of the manipulator is approximated by using radial basis function (RBF) neural network. The LSTM long and short memory algorithm is introduced, and the RBF based hybrid neural network model is constructed. The LSTM algorithm is used to design the input gate, forgetting gate and output gate structures to suppress the gradient expansion problem during coordinate data training, and accurate trajectory correction instructions are given. Lyapunov stability theorem is used to analyze stability. Partial persistent excitation (PE) conditions of some internal signals in the closed-loop system are satisfied in the control process of tracking the circular reference trajectory. Under the PE condition, the proposed adaptive NN controller can accurately identify the dynamic uncertainties of the manipulator in the stability control process. Then, a new NN learning control method is proposed, which effectively uses the knowledge learned without re adapting to the unknown manipulator control system dynamics to achieve closed-loop stability and improve control performance. The effectiveness of the proposed method is studied through simulation.Keyboard

High-Precision and Modular Decomposition Control for Large Hydraulic Manipulators

It is difficult to achieve a high-precision motion control in hydraulic manipulators due to their structural redundancy, strong coupling of closed-chain structures, and flow–pressure coupling. In this paper, a high-precision motion control method for hydraulic manipulators is proposed based on the traditional virtual decomposition control (VDC). The method proposed avoids an excessive virtual decomposition of the hydraulic manipulator and requires fewer model parameters than the traditional VDC. Further, the control precision improved by combining an adaptive real-time update of the inertial parameters. Compared with MBC, the proposed control method improved the motion accuracy of the hydraulic manipulator by more than 40% and 20% under elliptical and triangular trajectories. The simulation results showed that the proposed control method reduced the maximum position errors in Cartesian space by 90.4%, 86.8%, 23.6%, and 44.3% compared with PID and model-based control (MBC) in the absence of disturbances. The maximum position error in Cartesian space was reduced by 76.5% compared with that of MBC in a simulation with external disturbances. It can be seen from all the simulation results that with the proposed control method, the position error of the manipulator was less than 50 mm. The proposed control method effectively improved the motion precision of the examined hydraulic manipulator.

A Model-Free-Based Control Method for Robot Manipulators: Achieving Prescribed Performance and Ensuring Fixed Time Stability

This paper addresses three significant challenges in controlling robot manipulators: improving response time, minimizing steady-state errors and chattering, and enhancing controller robustness. It also focuses on eliminating the need for computing the robot’s dynamic model and unknown functions, as well as achieving global fixed-time convergence and the prescribed performance for the control system. To achieve these objectives, a fixed-time sliding mode function is designed, which uses transformation errors to achieve prescribed control performance, with adjustments made to the maximum overshoot, convergence time, and tracking errors to keep them within predefined bounds. Additionally, a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is used to eliminate the need for knowledge of the robot’s dynamical properties and uncertain terms, which also reduces negative chattering. Finally, a novel fixed-time terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) algorithm is developed for robot manipulators without using their dynamical model. The fixed-time stability of the control system is thoroughly demonstrated by applying Lyapunov criteria and conducting simulations on a robot manipulator to showcase its effectiveness.

Reinforcement Learning-Based Fixed-Time Trajectory Tracking Control for Uncertain Robotic Manipulators With Input Saturation.

A fixed-time trajectory tracking control method for uncertain robotic manipulators with input saturation based on reinforcement learning (RL) is studied. The designed RL control algorithm is implemented by a radial basis function (RBF) neural network (NN), in which the actor NN is used to generate the control strategy and the critic NN is used to evaluate the execution cost. A new nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode technique is used to ensure the convergence of tracking error in fixed time, and the upper bound of convergence time is estimated. To solve the saturation problem of an actuator, a nonlinear antiwindup compensator is designed to compensate for the saturation effect of the joint torque actuator in real time. Finally, the stability of the closed-loop system based on the Lyapunov candidate is analyzed, and the timing convergence of the closed-loop system is proven. Simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control law.

Model-free sliding mode prescribed performance control of robotic manipulator based on new reaching law

The article proposes a model-free sliding mode prescribed performance control method for robotic manipulator. For accelerating the errors converging rate as well as bringing down the real-time control torque, an error-driven nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode is employed in this control method. Besides, a modified power reaching law is newly designed, which is able to offer better chattering elimination performance than traditional power reaching law. To solve the problem that the controller’s performance highly relies on the accuracy of robotic model, a model-free control idea is introduced where an ultra-local model is established and the estimation of time delay is used to approximate the unknown part of the ultra-local model. Considering the transient performance is a significant element that effects the using security and system stability, the technique of prescribed performance control is introduced to limit the state errors in a prescribed region. The closed-loop stability proof of the whole system is achieved according to Lyapunov’s stability theorem. The proposed controller’s superiority and feasibility compared with other controllers are demonstrated by numerical simulations.

Fixed-Time RBFNN-Based Prescribed Performance Control for Robot Manipulators: Achieving Global Convergence and Control Performance Improvement

This paper proposes a fixed-time neural network-based prescribed performance control method (FNN-PPCM) for robot manipulators. A fixed-time sliding mode controller (SMC) is designed with its strengths and weaknesses in mind. However, to address the limitations of the controller, the paper suggests alternative approaches for achieving the desired control objective. To maintain stability during a robot’s operation, it is crucial to keep error states within a set range. To form the unconstrained systems corresponding to the robot’s constrained systems, we apply modified prescribed performance functions (PPFs) and transformed errors set. PPFs help regulate steady-state errors within a performance range that has symmetric boundaries around zero, thereby ensuring that the tracking error is zero when the transformed error is zero. Additionally, we use a singularity-free sliding surface designed using transformed errors to determine the fixed-time convergence interval and maximum allowable control errors during steady-state operation. To address lumped uncertainties, we employ a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) that approximates their value directly. By selecting the transformed errors as the input for the RBFNN, we can minimize these errors while bounding the tracking errors. This results in a more accurate and faster estimation, which is superior to using tracking errors as the input for the RBFNN. The design procedure of our approach is based on fixed-time SMC combined with PPC. The method integrates an RBFNN for precise uncertainty estimation, unconstrained dynamics, and a fixed-time convergence sliding surface based on the transformed error. By using this design, we can achieve fixed-time prescribed performance, effectively address chattering, and only require a partial dynamics model of the robot. We conducted numerical simulations on a 3-DOF robot manipulator to confirm the effectiveness and superiority of the FNN-PPCM.

Optimization of Control Method of Construction Machinery Manipulator Based on Neural Network

Optimization of Control Method of Construction Machinery Manipulator Based on Neural Network

Kinematic Control of Serial Manipulators Under False Data Injection Attack

With advanced communication technologies, cyber-physical 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.