Aerial cooperative transporting and assembling control using multiple quadrotor–manipulator systems

In this paper, a fully distributed control scheme for aerial cooperative transporting and assembling is proposed using multiple quadrotor–manipulator systems with each quadrotor equipped with a robotic manipulator. First, the kinematic and dynamic models of a quadrotor with multi-Degree of Freedom (DOF) robotic manipulator are established together using Euler–Lagrange equations. Based on the aggregated dynamic model, the control scheme consisting of position controller, attitude controller and manipulator controller is presented. Regarding cooperative transporting and assembling, multiple quadrotor–manipulator systems should be able to form a desired formation without collision among quadrotors from any initial position. The desired formation is achieved by the distributed position controller and attitude controller, while the collision avoidance is guaranteed by an artificial potential function method. Then, the transporting and assembling tasks request the manipulators to reach the desired angles cooperatively, which is achieved by the distributed manipulator controller. The overall stability of the closed-loop system is proven by a Lyapunov method and Matrosov's theorem. In the end, the proposed control scheme is simplified for the real application and then validated by two formation flying missions of four quadrotors with 2-DOF manipulators.     

Boundary Control of a Flexible Robotic Manipulator With Output Constraints

In this study, we consider a boundary control problem of a flexible manipulator with input disturbances and output constraints, achieving pre‐set performance attributes on position tracking error and the deflection error at the end of the beam. The dynamics of the system are represented by partial differential equations (PDEs). With the Lyapunov's direct method, a boundary controller with disturbance observer is designed to regulate the angular position and suppress elastic vibration simultaneously. The proposed control scheme allows the errors to converge to an arbitrarily small residual set, with convergence rate larger than a pre‐specified value. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

End‐Point Regulation and Vibration Suppression of a Flexible Robotic Manipulator

In this paper, end‐point regulation and vibration suppression are investigated for a flexible robotic manipulator subject to the external disturbances. The dynamics of the flexible robotic manipulator is represented by one partial differential equation (PDE) and five ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Based on the Lyapunov's direct method, boundary control is developed to drive the manipulator to the desired set‐point and simultaneously suppress the vibrations of the flexible manipulator. Considering the unknown spatiotemporally varying disturbance, uniform boundedness of the closed‐loop system is achieved. The control performance of the closed‐loop system is guaranteed by suitably choosing the design parameters. Simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control.     

考虑柔性关节的机械臂自适应运动控制策略研究

具有柔性关节的轻型机械臂因其自重轻、响应迅速、操作灵活等优点,取得了广泛应用;针对具有柔性关节的机械臂系统的关节空间轨迹跟踪控制系统动力学参数不精确的问题,提出一种结合滑模变结构设计的自适应控制器算法;通过自适应控制的思想对系统动力学参数进行在线辨识,并采用Lyapunov方法证明了闭环系统的稳定性;仿真结果表明,该控制策略保证了机械臂系统对期望轨迹的快速跟踪,具有良好的跟踪精度,系统具有稳定性。     

Adaptive actuator fault compensation control for a rigid-flexible manipulator with ODEs-PDEs model

In this paper, the actuator fault problem is studied for a two-link rigid-flexible manipulator system in the presence of boundary disturbance and state constraint. The system consists of a rigid beam, a flexible beam and a payload at the end, which are described by hybrid ordinary differential equations–partial differential equations. The novel controller includes a proportional-derivative feedback structure, a disturbance observer and a fault-tolerant algorithm, which can regulate the joint positions and eliminate vibration of flexible beam, on circumstance of boundary disturbance and actuator fault. With the help of Barrier Lyapunov Function, the states will not be violated. It is proved that the closed-loop system has asymptotic stability by LaSalle Invariance Principle. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Stabilisation for cascade of nonlinear ODEs and counter-convecting transport dynamics

We consider stabilisation for a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (ODE) and counter-convecting transport partial differential equations (PDEs) cascaded system in which the transport coefficients depend on the ODE state. Stability analysis of the closed-loop system is based on the infinite-dimensional backstepping transformations and a Lyapunov functional. A predictor control is proposed such that the closed-loop system is globally asymptotically stable. The proposed design method is illustrated by a single-link manipulator.     

Adaptive backstepping control for an n-degree of freedom robotic manipulator based on combined state augmentation

The aim of this paper is to improve the tracking performance of a robotic manipulator by designing an adaptive controller and implementing it on the system. The proposed controller guarantees the system stability as well as good tracking performance in existence of nonlinearity and parameter uncertainties. The requirement to decrease the system response overshoot and steady state error as well as increasing speed of tracking for manipulators is essential to many manufacturers. To this mean, in this paper, the tracking error equations for an n-DOF manipulator are derived and the response characteristics are improved by augmenting a new state to the system equations. The stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed based on the Lyapunov theory via backstepping control approach. The robotic manipulator model contains parametric uncertainties and many of the parameter values are unknown. To solve the problem, an adaption law is proposed via adaptive backstepping mechanism. Different experiments are carried out for a 2-DOF manipulator to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach and the results are compared with four of the recently revealed researches on control. Experimental results present the superiority of the state augmented adaptive backstepping in tracking the desired joint angles. Moreover, in order to present the industrial application of the proposed control method, it is simulated for a large industrial Scara manipulator.     

Sliding Mode Control for Flexible-link Manipulators Based on Adaptive Neural Networks

This paper mainly focuses on designing a sliding mode boundary controller for a single flexible-link manipulator based on adaptive radial basis function (RBF) neural network. The flexible manipulator in this paper is considered to be an Euler-Bernoulli beam. We first obtain a partial differential equation (PDE) model of single-link flexible manipulator by using Hamiltons approach. To improve the control robustness, the system uncertainties including modeling uncertainties and external disturbances are compensated by an adaptive neural approximator. Then, a sliding mode control method is designed to drive the joint to a desired position and rapidly suppress vibration on the beam. The stability of the closed-loop system is validated by using Lyapunov’s method based on infinite dimensional model, avoiding problems such as control spillovers caused by traditional finite dimensional truncated models. This novel controller only requires measuring the boundary information, which facilitates implementation in engineering practice. Favorable performance of the closed-loop system is demonstrated by numerical simulations.     

An output feedback parallel force/position regulator for a robot manipulator in contact with a compliant environment

In this paper the problem of regulating force and position for a robot manipulator in contact with an elastically compliant environment is considered. In the framework of parallel force/position control, an output feedback regulator with gravity compensation and desired force feedforward is proposed which only requires measurements of force and position. Semiglobal stability of the closed-loop system around the equilibrium is shown via a Lyapunov argument.     

Adaptive boundary control of a flexible manipulator with input saturation

In this study, we consider the anti-windup design as one of the approaches for the boundary control problem of a flexible manipulator in the presence of system parametric uncertainties, external disturbances and bounded inputs. The dynamics of the system are represented by partial differential equations (PDEs). Using the singular perturbation approach, the PDE model is divided into two simpler subsystems. With the Lyapunov's direct method, an adaptive boundary control scheme is developed to regulate the angular position and suppress the elastic vibration simultaneously and the adaptive laws are designed to compensate for the system parametric uncertainties and the disturbances. The proposed control scheme allows the application of smooth hyperbolic functions, which satisfy physical conditions and input restrictions, be easily realised. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

基于干扰观测器的机械臂广义模型预测轨迹跟踪控制

为实现对多自由度机械臂关节运动精确轨迹跟踪,提出一种基于非线性干扰观测器的广义模型预测轨迹跟踪控制方法。针对机械臂轨迹跟踪运动学子系统,采用广义预测控制（Generalized Predictive Control,GPC）方法设计期望的虚拟关节角速度。对于机械臂轨迹跟踪动力学子系统,考虑机械臂的参数不确定性和未知外界扰动,利用GPC方法设计关节力矩控制输入,基于非线性干扰观测器方法实时估计和补偿系统模型中的不确定性。在李雅普诺夫稳定性理论框架下证明了机械臂关节角位置和角速度的跟踪误差最终收敛于零的小邻域。数值仿真验证了所提出控制方法的有效性和优越性。     

Partial differential equation boundary control of a flexible manipulator with input saturation

In this study, we consider the boundary control problem of a flexible manipulator in the presence of input saturation and input disturbances. The dynamics of the flexible system are represented by partial differential equations (PDEs). Based on disturbance observers, a boundary control scheme is designed to regulate angular position and suppress elastic vibration simultaneously. The proposed control scheme allows the application of smooth hyperbolic functions, which satisfy physical conditions and input restrictions, easily be realised. It is proved that the proposed control scheme can be guaranteed in handling input saturation and external disturbances. The stability is achieved through rigorous analysis without any simplification of the dynamics. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

考虑驱动系统动态的机械手神经网络控制及应用

针对结构和参数均未知的机械手控制问题, 提出了考虑驱动系统动态的机械手神经网络控制方法, 采用稳定的径向基(Radial basis function, RBF)神经网络辨识机械手未知动态, 而附加的鲁棒控制可以保证存在神经网络的建模误差和外部干扰时系统的稳定性和性能, 并且该方法使机械手闭环系统一致最终有界. 同时开发了基于半实物仿真技术的机械手控制系统, 最后, 将本文方法与经典的PD控制器和自适应控制器在同一机械手平台上进行了实验验证与分析, 实验结果表明该方法具有良好的控制性能.     

具有量化输入和边界扰动的柔性臂边界振动滑模控制

本文针对量化输入和有界扰动下柔性臂系统的振动抑制和边界滑模控制器设计问题开展研究. 柔性臂的动态特性由偏微分方程表示的分布参数模型描述. 对于具有未知有界干扰的柔性臂系统, 其主要控制目标是减小干扰的影响, 使柔性臂到达期望角度并同时抑制系统的振动. 首先, 利用边界输出信号构造滑模函数和滑模面. 其次, 结合所构造的滑模面, 设计一种边界滑模控制器, 并利用算子半群理论证明了闭环系统的适定性. 所提出的边界滑模控制策略保证了系统状态能够在有限时间内到达滑模面, 并且系统状态在滑模面上是指数收敛的. 最后, 通过物理实验验证了所提出控制策略的有效性.     

Error-constrained path-following control for a stratospheric airship with actuator saturation and disturbances

This paper is concerned with the path-following control problem for an under-actuated stratospheric airship with error constraint, actuator saturation, and external disturbances. To address the tracking error-constrained requirements of airship position and attitude, novel tan-type barrier Lyapunov functions are proposed and incorporated with the guidance and attitude control schemes, which calculate the desired attitude and angular velocity. An auxiliary design system in the form of anti-windup compensator is employed to deal with actuator saturation, and the stability of the saturated control solution is verified. Nonlinear disturbance observer is developed to estimate the unknown external disturbances. Rigorous stability analysis shows that the constrained requirements on the airship position and attitude will not be violated under the proposed control method and all closed-loop signals are uniformly ultimately bounded, despite the presence of actuator saturation and disturbances. Simulation results and comparisons illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Adaptive boundary control of a flexible marine installation system

In this paper, boundary control of a marine installation system is developed to position the subsea payload to the desired set-point and suppress the cable’s vibration. Using Hamilton’s principle, the flexible cable coupled with vessel and payload dynamics is described as a distributed parameter system with one partial differential equation (PDE) and two ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Adaptive boundary control is proposed at the top and bottom boundaries of the cable, based on Lyapunov’s direct method. Considering the system parametric uncertainty, the boundary control schemes developed achieve uniform boundedness of the steady state error between the boundary payload and the desired position. The control performance of the closed-loop system is guaranteed by suitably choosing the design parameters. Simulations are provided to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed control.     

末端有未知扰动的分布参数柔性机械臂的鲁棒边界控

本文研究在柔性机械臂的末端具有未知扰动的边界控制,以降低机械臂的振动.柔性机械臂的动态特性由偏微分方程表示的分布参数模型描述.在机械臂的末端边界基于Lyapunov直接法进行控制,以调节机械臂的振动.应用本文所提出的边界控制方法,可达到外界干扰下的指数稳定性.所提出的控制方法与系统参数无关,可确保在参数变化下系统具有鲁棒性.最后对所提控制方法的有效性进行了数值模拟.     

双连杆刚柔机械臂无残余振动位置控制

针对双连杆刚柔机械臂,提出一种基于轨迹规划的无残余振动位置控制方法,在将机械臂的末端执行器从任意初始位置移动到目标位置的同时,确保系统没有残余振动产生.首先,建立系统的动力学模型,并通过分析该模型得到系统的状态约束方程.其次,基于状态约束方程,运用双向轨迹规划方法规划一条系统前向轨迹和一条系统反向轨迹.然后,利用时间倒转方法及基于遗传算法的轨迹优化方法对两条轨迹进行拼合,得到一条从系统初始状态到目标状态的期望轨迹.最后,设计轨迹跟踪控制器使系统沿期望轨迹到达目标状态,实现系统的无残余振动位置控制目标.仿真结果验证了本文所提方法的有效性.     

Dynamic modeling and vibration control for a nonlinear 3‐dimensional flexible manipulator

In this paper, the control design and stability analysis are presented for a 3‐dimensional flexible manipulator system with input disturbances. To provide an accurate and concise representation of the manipulator's dynamic behavior, the flexible manipulator is described by a distributed parameter system with a set of partial differential equations and ordinary differential equations. Boundary control laws with disturbance observers are proposed to regulate orientation and suppress elastic vibrations simultaneously. The closed‐loop stability is achieved through rigorous analysis without any simplification of the dynamics based on the Lyapunov direct method. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Sliding mode force,motion control,and stabilization of elastic manipulator in the presence of uncertainties

This article considers the question of position and force control of three-link elastic robotic systems on a constraint surface in the presence of robot parameter and environmental constraint geometry uncertainties. The approach of this article is applicable to any multi-link elastic robot. A sliding mode control law is derived for the position and force trajectory control of manipulator. Unlike the rigid robots, sliding mode control of an end point gives rise to unstable zero dynamics. Instability of the zero dynamics is avoided by Controlling a point that lies in the neighborhood of the actual end point position. The sliding mode controller accomplishes tracking of the end-effector and force trajectories on the constrained surface; however, the maneuver of the arm causes elastic mode excitation. For point-to-point control on the constraint surface, a stabilizer is designed for the final capture of the terminal state and vibration suppression. Numerical results are presented to show that in the closed-loop system position and force control is accomplished in spite of payload and constraint surface geometry uncertainty. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.