On the Recursive Adaptive Control for Free-floating Space Manipulators

This paper is devoted to investigating the recursive implementation schemes of adaptive control for free-floating space manipulators. Using spatial vector tool and some physical properties that free-floating space manipulators enjoy, we establish a general framework on the seeking of the centripetal and Coriolis matrix that satisfies the skew symmetry requirement. Under this general framework, we propose a recursive adaptive algorithm for free-floating manipulators, which is composed of two parts: the first part is the recursive derivation of the required manipulator control torques, and the second part is the recursive updating of the spacecraft reference velocity and acceleration. To guarantee the uniform positive definiteness of the estimated spacecraft inertia, we present a parameter projection algorithm to project the estimated parameters into some pre-specified parameter region. In the next, we extend the proposed recursive adaptive algorithm to task-space control of free-floating space manipulators. We examine the performance of the proposed recursive adaptive algorithms via numerical simulation on a six-DOF space manipulator.     

基于一致性理论的多臂航天器协同控制方法

针对空间中自由漂浮多臂航天器的多臂协同问题,提出一种基于一致性理论的协同控制方法,采用有向通信拓扑与广义雅克比矩阵结合的方式,实现自由漂浮航天器多机械臂间的协同.首先,建立多机械臂间的通信关系有向图,确定“领导-跟随”体系下的主臂与从臂;其次,基于有向通信拓扑,进行主从臂末端运动规划,实现主臂运动向从臂的传递;再次,利用广义雅克比矩阵在动量守恒条件下进行末端运动向关节运动的映射,并基于一致性理论设计关节空间内的多臂协同运动控制器;最后,基于李雅普诺夫稳定性理论证明控制器的稳定性,并分析位置控制误差.仿真结果表明,所提出的控制方法可以实现多臂航天器系统空间操控任务中各机械臂的聚集、跟踪与位置协同.     

Adaptive neural network tracking control for manipulators with uncertain kinematics, dynamics and actuator model

A neural-network-based adaptive controller is proposed for the tracking problem of manipulators with uncertain kinematics, dynamics and actuator model. The adaptive Jacobian scheme is used to estimate the unknown kinematics parameters. Uncertainties in the manipulator dynamics and actuator model are compensated by three-layer neural networks. External disturbances and approximation errors are counteracted by robust signals. The actuator controller is designed based on the backstepping scheme. Compared with the existing work, the proposed method considers the manipulator kinematics uncertainty, does not need the “linearity-in-parameters” assumption for the uncertain terms in the dynamics of manipulator and actuator, and guarantees the tracking error to be as small as desired. Finally, the performance of the proposed approach is illustrated by the simulation example.     

Motion Control of a Nonholonomic Mobile Manipulator in Task Space

In this paper, the motion control of a mobile manipulator subjected to nonholonomic constraints is investigated. The control objective is to design a computed‐torque controller based on the coupled dynamics of the mobile manipulator. The proposed controller achieves the capability of simultaneous tracking of a reference velocity for the mobile base and a reference trajectory for the end‐effector. The aforementioned reference velocity and trajectory are defined in the task space, such task setting imitates the actual working conditions of a mobile manipulator and thus makes the control problem practical. To solve this tracking problem, a steering velocity is firstly designed based on the first‐order kinematic model of the nonholonomic mobile base via dynamic feedback linearization. The main merit of the proposed steering velocity design is that it directly utilizes the reference velocity set in the task space without requiring the knowledge of a reference orientation. A torque controller is subsequently developed based on a proposed Lyapunov function which explicitly considers the coupled dynamics of the mobile manipulator to ensure the mobile base and end‐effector track the reference velocity and trajectory respectively. This proposed computed‐torque controller is able to realize asymptotic stability of both the base velocity tracking error and the end‐effector motion tracking error. Simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

On adaptive inverse dynamics for free-floating space manipulators

This paper is devoted to the investigation of adaptive inverse dynamics for free-floating space manipulators (FFSMs) suffering from parameter uncertainties/variations. To overcome the nonlinear parametric problem of the dynamics of FFSMs, we introduce a new regressor matrix called the generalized dynamic regressor. Based on this regressor, and with Lyapunov stability analysis tools, we obtain a new parameter adaptation law and show that the closed-loop system is stable, and that the joint tracking errors converge asymptotically to zero. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed adaptive algorithm. Furthermore, we conduct a comparative study between adaptive inverse dynamics, prediction error based adaptation, and passivity based adaptation.     

Learning Control of Robot Manipulators in Task Space

Two important properties of industrial tasks performed by robot manipulators, namely, periodicity (i.e., repetitive nature) of the task and the need for the task to be performed by the end‐effector, motivated this work. Not being able to utilize the robot manipulator dynamics due to uncertainties complicated the control design. In a seemingly novel departure from the existing works in the literature, the tracking problem is formulated in the task space and the control input torque is aimed to decrease the task space tracking error directly without making use of inverse kinematics at the position level. A repetitive learning controller is designed which “learns” the overall uncertainties in the robot manipulator dynamics. The stability of the closed‐loop system and asymptotic end‐effector tracking of a periodic desired trajectory are guaranteed via Lyapunov based analysis methods. Experiments performed on an in‐house developed robot manipulator are presented to illustrate the performance and viability of the proposed controller.     

柔性臂漂浮基空间机器人建模与轨迹跟踪控制

利用拉格朗日法和假设模态方法建立了末端柔性的两臂漂浮基空间机器人的非线性动力学方程．通过坐标变换,推导出一种新的以可测关节角为变量的全局动态模型，并在此基础上运用基于模型的非线性解耦反馈控制方法得到关节相对转角与柔性臂的弹性变形部分解耦形式控制方程．最后，讨论了柔性臂漂浮基空间机器人的轨迹跟踪问题，并通过仿真实例计算,表明该模型转换及控制方法对于柔性臂漂浮基空间机器人末端轨迹跟踪控制的有效性．     

Robust visual tracking for manipulators with unknown intrinsic and extrinsic parameters

This paper addresses the robust visual tracking of multi-feature points for a 3D manipulator with unknown intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the vision system. This class of control systems are highly nonlinear control systems characterized as time-varying and strong coupling in states and unknown parameters. It is first pointed out that not only is the Jacobian image matrix nonsingular, but also its minimum singular value has a positive limit. This provides the foundation of kinematics and dynamics control of manipulators with visual feedback. Second, the Euler angle expressed rotation transformation is employed to estimate a subspace of the parameter space of the vision system. Based on the two results above, and arbitrarily chosen parameters in this subspace, the tracking controllers are proposed so that the image errors can be made as small as desired so long as the control gain is allowed to be large. The controller does not use visual velocity to achieve high and robust performance with low sampling rate of the vision system. The obtained results are proved by Lyapunov direct method. Experiments are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Robust visual tracking for manipulators with unknown intrinsic and extrinsic parameters

This paper addresses the robust visual tracking of multi-feature points for a 3D manipulator with unknown intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the vision system. This class of control systems are highly nonlinear control systems characterized as time-varying and strong coupling in states and unknown parameters. It is first pointed out that not only is the Jacobian image matrix nonsingular, but also its minimum singular value has a positive limit. This provides the foundation of kinematics and dynamics control of manipulators with visual feedback. Second, the Euler angle expressed rotation transformation is employed to estimate a subspace of the parameter space of the vision system. Based on the two results above, and arbitrarily chosen parameters in this subspace, the tracking controllers are proposed so that the image errors can be made as small as desired so long as the control gain is allowed to be large. The controller does not use visual velocity to achieve high and robust performance with low sampling rate of the vision system. The obtained results are proved by Lyapunov direct method. Experiments are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

漂浮基空间机器人的径向基神经网络鲁棒自适应控制

针对一类同时具有参数及非参数不确定性的自由漂浮空间机器人系统的轨迹跟踪问题,采用了一种RBF神经网络的自适应鲁棒补偿控制策略.对于系统的参数不确定性,通过对径向基神经网络来自适应学习并补偿,逼近误差通过滑模控制器消除,神经网络权重的自适应修正规则基于Lyapunov函数方法得到;而非参数不确定通过鲁棒控制器来实时自适应...     

轮式移动机械臂的建模与仿真研究

移动机械臂系统一般由移动平台和机器臂组成,它既具有机器臂的操作灵活性,又具有移动机器人的可移动性,因此其应用范围要比单个系统宽得多。这篇文章主要研究了由非完整移动平台和完整机械臂组成的轮式移动机械臂系统的建模、跟踪控制及仿真问题。首先。利用拉格朗日动力学方程和非完整动力学罗兹方程建立了移动机械臂系统的精确数学模型;然后。利用非线性反馈将系统解耦。采用类PD控制器进行控制。在考虑了非完整约束及移动平台和机械臂的动态交互影响情况下,该控制算法保证系统同时跟踪给定的终端执行器和平台轨迹;最后,使用Maflah6．5对系统进行了仿真研究,仿真结果表明了其数学模型及控制方法的正确有效性。     

Noncertainty equivalent adaptive control of robot manipulators without velocity measurements

This paper presents a noncertainty equivalent adaptive motion control scheme for robot manipulators in the absence of link velocity measurements. A new output feedback adaptation algorithm, based on the attractive manifold design approach, is developed. A proportional-integral adaptation is selected for the adaptive parameter estimator to strengthen the passivity of the system. In order to relieve velocity measurements, an observer is designed to estimate the velocities. The controller guarantees semiglobal asymptotic motion tracking and velocity estimation, as well as L_∞ and L₂ bounded parameter estimation error. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is verified by simulations for a two-link robot manipulator and a four-bar linkage. The results are further compared with the earlier certainty-equivalent adaptive partial and full state feedback controller to highlight potential closed-loop performance improvements.     

空间机械臂本体与末端抓手协调运动的自适应控制方法

讨论了载体位置不受控制的漂浮基空间机械臂本体与末端抓手协调运动的自适应控制问题. 对系统的运动学、动力学分析表明, 结合系统动量守恒关系得到的系统动力学方程及协调运动的增广广义Jacobi矩阵可以表示为适当选择的组合惯性参数的线性函数. 以此为基础, 对于系统存在未知参数的情况, 设计了本体姿态与机械臂末端抓手惯性空间轨迹协调运动的自适应控制方案. 上述控制方案的显著优点在于: 不需要测量、反馈飞行器本体的位置、移动速度及移动加速度. 仿真运算, 证实了上述控制方案的有效性.     

A Neural Network Adaptive Controller for End-effector Tracking of Redundant Robot Manipulators

In this paper we propose a neural network adaptive controller to achieve end-effector tracking of redundant robot manipulators. The controller is designed in Cartesian space to overcome the problem of motion planning which is closely related to the inverse kinematics problem. The unknown model of the system is approximated by a decomposed structure neural network. Each neural network approximates a separate element of the dynamical model. These approximations are used to derive an adaptive stable control law. The parameter adaptation algorithm is derived from the stability study of the closed loop system using Lyapunov approach with intrinsic properties of robot manipulators. Two control strategies are considered. First, the aim of the controller is to achieve good tracking of the end-effector regardless the robot configurations. Second, the controller is improved using augmented space strategy to ensure minimum displacements of the joint positions of the robot. Simulation examples are also presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Kinematic control of redundant free-floating robotic systems

This paper is aimed at presenting solution algorithms to the inverse kinematics of a space manipulator mounted on a free-floating spacecraft. The reaction effects of the manipulator's motion on the spacecraft are taken into account by means of the so-called generalized Jacobian. Redundancy of the system with respect to the number of task variables for spacecraft attitude and manipulator end-effector pose is considered. Also, the problem of both spacecraft attitude and end-effector orientation representation is tackled by means of a non-minimal singularity-free representation: the unit quaternion. Depending on the nature of the task for the spacecraft/manipulator system, a number of closed-loop inverse kinematics algorithms are proposed. Case studies are developed for a system of a spacecraft with a six-joint manipulator attached.     

Optimal path planning of redundant free-floating revolute-jointed space manipulators with seven links

The path planning of free-floating manipulators is of great interest in space operations. The manipulators in the free-floating mode exhibit nonholonomic characteristics due to the nonintegrability of the angular momentum, which makes the problem complicated. This paper analyzes the path planning of redundant, free-floating space manipulators with revolute joints and 7 degrees of freedom. The primary task of manipulators is to move the manipulator arms so that the desired end-effector position and orientation can be achieved. The motion of the manipulators can produce an attitude disturbance of the base, which has an adverse impact on the spacecraft operation. Thus, it is necessary to minimize the base attitude disturbance in order to reduce the fuel consumption for attitude maintenance. Practically, the path planning of redundant free-floating manipulators with higher degrees of freedom (7 degrees of freedom in this paper) in three-dimensional space is more complicated than path planning with fewer degrees of freedom, including planar or fixed base cases. This paper provides a tractable planning method to solve this problem, which could avoid the pseudo inverse of the Jacobian matrix. The sine functions, whose arguments are the polynomial functions with unknown coefficients, are used to specify the joint paths. The PSODE algorithm (particle swarm optimization combined with differential evolution) is applied to optimize the unknown coefficients of the polynomials in order to achieve the desired end-effector position and orientation and simultaneously minimize the base attitude disturbance. The simulations demonstrate that this method could provide satisfactory smooth paths for redundant free-floating space manipulators.     

轮式移动机械臂的鲁棒跟踪控制研究

移动机械臂系统一般由移动平台和机器臂组成,它既具有机器臂的操作灵活性,又具有移动机器人的可移动性,因此其应用范围要比单个系统宽得多。这篇文章研究了由非完整移动平台和完整机械臂构成的移动机械臂系统的鲁棒跟踪控制问题,基于误差动态方程和耗散不等式引理设计了一种鲁棒跟踪控制器,该控制器在出现外界干扰时能使系统渐近跟踪给定信号。使用Matlab6.5对系统进行了仿真研究,仿真结果表明所提出的鲁棒控制算法是正确有效的。     

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。     

Velocity field control of a class of electrically-driven manipulators

This article addresses the control of robotic manipulators under the assumption that the desired motion in the operational space is encoded through a velocity field. In other words, a vectorial function assigns a velocity vector to each point in the robot workspace. Thus, the control objective is to design a control input such that the actual operational space velocity of the robot end-effector asymptotically tracks the desired velocity from the velocity field. This control formulation is known in the literature as velocity field control. A new velocity field controller together with a rigorous stability analysis is introduced in this article. The controller is developed for a class of electrically-driven manipulators. In this class of manipulators, the passivity property from the servo-amplifier voltage input to the joint velocity is not satisfied. However, global exponential stability of the state space origin of the closed-loop system is proven. Furthermore, the closed-loop system is proven to be and output strictly passive map from an auxiliary input to a filtered error signal. To confirm the theoretical conclusions, a detailed experimental study in a two degrees-of-freedom direct-drive manipulator is provided. Particularly, experiments consist of comparing the performance of a simple PI controller and a high-gain PI controller with respect to the new control scheme.     

performance control of robot manipulators with kinematics,dynamics and actuator uncertainties

This paper deals with the task‐space trajectory tracking control problem of robot manipulators. An improved adaptive backstepping controller is proposed to deal with the uncertainties in kinematics, dynamics, and actuator modeling. To avoid the explosion of computation in conventional backstepping techniques, a modified dynamic surface control algorithm is proposed, which guarantees the asymptotic convergence rather than the uniformly ultimately boundedness of tracking errors in conventional dynamic surface control methods. Furthermore, the expression of the norm of tracking errors is explicitly derived in relation to the controller parameters, which provides instructions on tuning controller parameters to adjust the system performance. Moreover, the passivity structure of the designed adaptation law is thoroughly analyzed. Simulation of a free‐floating space robot is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy in comparison with the conventional tracking control schemes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.