Design and control methodology of a 3-DOF flexure-based mechanism for micro/nano-positioning

A 3-DOF (X–Y–θ_Z) planar flexure-based mechanism is designed and monolithically manufactured using Wire Electro-Discharge Machining (WEDM) technology. The compact flexure-based mechanism is directly driven by three piezoelectric actuators (PZTs) through decoupling mechanisms. The orthogonal configuration in the x and y directions can guarantee the decoupling translational motion in these axes. The rotational motion and translational displacement in the x direction can be decoupled by controlling the piezoelectric actuators in the x axis with the same displacement values in same and opposite motion directions, respectively. The static and dynamic models of the developed flexure-based mechanism have been developed based on the pseudo-rigid-body model methodology. The mechanical design optimization is conducted to improve the static and dynamic characteristics of the flexure-based mechanism. Finite Element Analyses (FEA) are also carried out to verify the established models and optimization results. A novel hybrid feedforward/feedback controller has been provided to eliminate/reduce the nonlinear hysteresis and external disturbance of the flexure-based mechanism. Experimental testing has been performed to examine the dynamic performance of the developed flexure-based mechanism.     

Robust adaptive motion/force tracking control design for uncertain constrained robot manipulators

In the presence of uncertain constraint and robot model, an adaptive controller with robust motion/force tracking performance for constrained robot manipulators is proposed. First, robust motion and force tracking is considered, where a performance criterion containing disturbance and estimated parameter attenuations is presented. Then the proposed controller utilizes an adaptive scheme and an auxiliary control law to deal with the uncertain environmental constraint, disturbances, and robotic modeling uncertainties. After solving a simple linear matrix inequality for gain conditions, the effect from disturbance and estimated parameter errors to motion/force errors is attenuated to an arbitrary prescribed level. Moreover, if the disturbance and estimated parameter errors are square-integrable, then an asymptotic motion tracking is achieved while the force error is as small as the inversion of control gain. Finally, numerical simulation results for a constrained planar robot illustrate the expected performance.     

Contribution to the indirect decentralized adaptive control of manipulation robots

In this paper, efficient approaches to the synthesis of indirect decentralized adaptive control for manipulation robots are presented. The first part of control synthesis consists of the estimation of unknown dynamic robot parameters using the methods of recursive identification and fast dynamic as well as identification models in a symbolic form. The second part of synthesis includes the self-tuning control strategy which is a basis for adaptive control synthesis according to the estimates of the unknown dynamic parameters. Using the theory of decentralized systems, a new robust algorithm for adaptive control with the ability of adaptation in the feedforward or feedback loop are proposed. A complete stability and convergence analysis is presented. A special part of the paper represents an analysis of practical implementation of the proposed control algorithms on modern microprocessor-based robot controllers. Based on this analysis, an efficient application of indirect adaptive algorithms in real time with high-quality system performance is shown. Adaptive algorithms are verified through simulation of trajectory tracking for an industrial robot with unknown dynamic parameters of payload.     

A modified direct adaptive robust motion trajectory tracking controller of a pneumatic system

In this study, we developed and tested a high-precision motion trajectory tracking controller of a pneumatic cylinder driven by four costless on/off solenoid valves rather than by a proportional directional control valve. The relationship between the pulse width modulation （PWM） of a signal＇s duty cycle and control law was determined experimentally, and a mathematical model of the whole system established. Owing to unknown disturbances and unmodeled dynamics, there are considerable uncertain nonlinearities and parametric uncertainties in this pneumatic system. A modified direct adaptive robust controller （DARC） was constructed to cope with these issues. The controller employs a gradient type adaptation law based on discontinuous projection mapping to guarantee that estimated unknown model parameters stay within a known bounded region, and uses a deterministic robust control strategy to weaken the effects of unmodeled dynamics, disturbances, and parameter estimation errors. By using discontinuous projection mapping, the parameter adaptation law and the robust control law can be synthesized separately. A recursive backstepping technology is applied to account for unmatched model uncertainties. Kalman filters were designed sepa- rately to estimate the motion states and the derivative of the intermediate control law in synthesizing the deterministic robust control law. Experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Self-tuning adaptive feedback linearizing output voltage control for AC/DC converter

This paper presents a cascade output voltage control law adopting the self-tuning adaptive inner and outer-loop controllers for a AC/DC converter modelled as a nonlinear system. The first contribution is to design the inner and outer-loop controllers updating their control gains to enhance the closed-loop performance, estimating unknown parameters. The second one is to show that the proposed inner-loop controller stabilizes not only current error dynamics but also output voltage dynamics viewed as internal dynamics. The effectiveness of proposed method is shown by performing experiments using a 3-kW AC/DC converter.     

Force/position tracking for a robotic manipulator in compliant contact with a surface using neuro-adaptive control

The problem of force/position tracking for a robotic manipulator in compliant contact with a surface under non-parametric uncertainties is considered. In particular, structural uncertainties are assumed to characterize the compliance and surface friction models, as well as the robot dynamic model. A novel neuro-adaptive controller is proposed, that exploits the approximation capabilities of the linear in the weights neural networks, guaranteeing the uniform ultimate boundedness of force and position error with respect to arbitrarily small sets, plus the boundedness of all signals in the closed loop. Simulations highlight the approach.     

Distributed adaptive control for consensus tracking with application to formation control of nonholonomic mobile robots

In this paper, we investigate the output consensus problem of tracking a desired trajectory for a class of systems consisting of multiple nonlinear subsystems with intrinsic mismatched unknown parameters. The subsystems are allowed to have non-identical dynamics, whereas with similar structures and the same yet arbitrary system order. And the communication status among the subsystems can be represented by a directed graph. Different from the traditional centralized tracking control problem, only a subset of the subsystems can obtain the desired trajectory information directly. A distributed adaptive control approach based on backstepping technique is proposed. By introducing the estimates to account for the parametric uncertainties of the desired trajectory and its neighbors’ dynamics into the local controller of each subsystem, information exchanges of online parameter estimates and local synchronization errors among linked subsystems can be avoided. It is proved that the boundedness of all closed-loop signals and the asymptotically consensus tracking for all the subsystems’ outputs are ensured. A numerical example is illustrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. Moreover, the design strategy is successfully applied to solve a formation control problem for multiple nonholonomic mobile robots.     

Robust adaptive control of uncertain force/motion constrained nonholonomic mobile manipulators

In this paper, force/motion tracking control is investigated for nonholonomic mobile manipulators with unknown parameters and disturbances under uncertain holonomic constraints. The nonholonomic mobile manipulator is transformed into a reduced chained form, and then, robust adaptive force/motion control with hybrid variable signals is proposed to compensate for parametric uncertainties and suppress bounded disturbances. The control scheme guarantees that the outputs of the dynamic system track some bounded auxiliary signals, which subsequently drive the kinematic system to the desired trajectory/force. Simulation studies on the control of a wheeled mobile manipulator are used to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Approximation-based adaptive fuzzy tracking control for a class of switched nonlinear pure-feedback systems

In this paper, the problem of adaptive fuzzy tracking control is investigated for switched nonlinear pure-feedback systems under arbitrary switching. By utilising mean value theorem, the considered pure-feedback systems are transformed into a class of switched nonlinear strict-feedback systems. Compared with the existing results, a priori knowledge of control directions is not required. On the other hand, differing from the existing literatures, the piecewise switched adaptive laws are designed to replace the common adaptive laws, which can reduce the conservativeness. Furthermore, the difficulties from how to deal with the unknown control directions and design common virtual control are overcome. Based on the backstepping technique and the common Lyapunov functions, an adaptive fuzzy control scheme is developed to guarantee that all the signals in the closed-loop system are semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded with the tracking error converging to a neighbourhood of the origin. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.     

Finite-horizon neuro-optimal tracking control for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems using adaptive dynamic programming approach

In this paper, a finite-horizon neuro-optimal tracking control strategy for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems is proposed. Through system transformation, the optimal tracking problem is converted into designing a finite-horizon optimal regulator for the tracking error dynamics. Then, with convergence analysis in terms of cost function and control law, the iterative adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) algorithm via heuristic dynamic programming (HDP) technique is introduced to obtain the finite-horizon optimal tracking controller which makes the cost function close to its optimal value within an ?-error bound. Three neural networks are used as parametric structures to implement the algorithm, which aims at approximating the cost function, the control law, and the error dynamics, respectively. Two simulation examples are included to complement the theoretical discussions.