Proxy-based sliding mode control of a robotic ankle-foot system for post-stroke rehabilitation

Robotic platform-based ankle–foot rehabilitation systems have been proved effective in treating joint spasticity and/or contracture of stroke survivors. However, simple force or velocity limiters are not adequate, since they cannot explicitly guarantee slow and overdamped motions without overshoot. In this paper, we propose a proxy-based sliding mode control (PSMC)-based approach, to avoid unsafe behaviors of a robotic ankle–foot rehabilitation system. The proposed method has three advantages: (1) without deteriorating tracking performance during normal operation, it guarantees overdamped, slow, and safe recoveries after abnormal events; (2) it provides a simple and accurate way to confine the output torque exerted on the subject’s ankle; (3) though effective, the control law avoids the necessity to identify the specific system model or build state observer, which is usually difficult for human–robot interaction system. A 71-year-old stroke patient and 10 able-bodied subjects were recruited for the experiments. Preliminary studies comparing PSMC and PID are performed on trajectory tracking, controlled torque output, slow and safe response under disturbance. Additionally, by fulfilling the rehabilitation method and obtaining biomechanical indicators, the proposed controller is proved to be feasible for the system.     

Locomotion Control of a Hydraulically Actuated Hexapod Robot by Robust Adaptive Fuzzy Control with Self-Tuned Adaptation Gain and Dead Zone Fuzzy Pre-compensation

Hydraulically actuated robotic mechanisms are becoming popular for field robotic applications for their compact design and large output power. However, they exhibit nonlinearity, parameter variation and flattery delay in the response. This flattery delay, which often causes poor trajectory tracking performance of the robot, is possibly caused by the dead zone of the proportional electromagnetic control valves and the delay associated with oil flow. In this investigation, we have proposed a trajectory tracking control system for hydraulically actuated robotic mechanism that diminishes the flattery delay in the output response. The proposed controller consists of a robust adaptive fuzzy controller with self-tuned adaptation gain in the feedback loop to cope with the parameter variation and disturbances and a one-step-ahead fuzzy controller in the feed-forward loop for hydraulic dead zone pre-compensation. The adaptation law of the feedback controller has been designed by Lyapunov synthesis method and its adaptation rate is varied by fuzzy self-tuning. The variable adaptation rate helps to improve the tracking performance without sacrificing the stability. The proposed control technique has been applied for locomotion control of a hydraulically actuated hexapod robot under independent joint control framework. For tracking performance of the proposed controller has also been compared with classical PID controller, LQG state feedback controller and static fuzzy controller. The experimental results exhibit a very accurate foot trajectory tracking with very small tracking error with the proposed controller.     

Optimal two-degree-of-freedom fuzzy control for locomotion control of a hydraulically actuated hexapod robot

Locomotion control of legged robots is a very challenging task because very accurate foot trajectory tracking control is necessary for stable walking. An electro-hydraulically actuated walking robot has sufficient power to walk on rough terrain and carry a heavier payload. However, electro-hydraulic servo systems suffer from various shortcomings such as a high degree of nonlinearity, uncertainty due to changing hydraulic properties, delay due to oil flow and dead-zone of the proportional electromagnetic control valves. These shortcomings lead to inaccurate analytical system model, therefore, application of classical control techniques result into large tracking error. Fuzzy logic is capable of modeling mathematically complex or ill-defined systems. Therefore, fuzzy logic is becoming popular for synthesis of control systems for complex and nonlinear plants. In this investigation, a two-degree-of-freedom fuzzy controller, consisting of a one-step-ahead fuzzy prefilter in the feed-forward loop and a PI-like fuzzy controller in the feedback loop, has been proposed for foot trajectory tracking control of a hydraulically actuated hexapod robot. The fuzzy prefilter has been designed by a genetic algorithm (GA) based optimization. The prefilter overcomes the flattery delay caused by the hydraulic dead-zone of the electromagnetic proportional control valve and thus helps to achieve better tracking. The feedback fuzzy controller ensures the stability of the overall system in the face of model uncertainty associated with hydraulically actuated robotic mechanisms. Experimental results exhibit that the proposed controller manifests better foot trajectory tracking performance compared to single-degree-of-freedom (SDF) fuzzy controller or optimal classical controller like state feedback LQR controller.     

Trajectory tracking control of a pneumatically actuated 6-DOF Gough–Stewart parallel robot using Backstepping-Sliding Mode controller and geometry-based quasi forward kinematic method

In this paper, the trajectory tracking control of a 6-DoF pneumatically actuated Gough–Stewart parallel robot is investigated. The dynamic model of each link, comprising of a pneumatic actuator and a proportional electrical valve is extracted with the aim of obtaining the corresponding state space representation of the pneumatic system. Unknown parameters of the dynamic model consisting friction force of the cylinder and parameters of the proportional valve are identified by employing genetic algorithm. Position control of the pneumatic actuator is performed based on Back-Stepping Sliding Mode controller according to the dynamic model of the system. As such trajectory tracking control is performed for different trajectories by employing a rotation sensor and calculated position based on joint space and task space simultaneously. Desired sinusoidal trajectories with pure motions are tracked with root mean square error of the pure translations and rotations lower than 0.85 (cm) and 1.9 (deg), respectively. The results reveal that the trajectory is tracked by the Back-Stepping Sliding Mode controller properly. This shows the efficiency of the control strategy and the proposed method for calculating the position of the end-effector.     

Fuzzy logic based adaptive admittance control of a redundantly actuated ankle rehabilitation robot

Ankle rehabilitation robots have recently attracted great attention since they provide various advantages in terms of rehabilitation process from the viewpoints of patients and therapists. This paper presents development and evaluation of a fuzzy logic based adaptive admittance control scheme for a developed 2-DOF redundantly actuated parallel ankle rehabilitation robot. The proposed adaptive admittance control scheme provides the robot to adapt resistance/assistance level according to patients' disability level. In addition, a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is developed to improve the trajectory tracking ability of the rehabilitation robot subject to external disturbances which possibly occur due to human-robot interaction. The boundary scales of membership functions of the FLC are tuned using cuckoo search algorithm (CSA). A classical proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is also tuned using the CSA to examine the performance of the FLC. The effectiveness of the adaptive admittance control scheme is observed in the experimental results. Furthermore, the experimental results demonstrate that the optimized FLC significantly improves the tracking performance of the ankle rehabilitation robot and decreases the steady-state tracking errors about 50% compared to the optimized PID controller. The performances of the developed controllers are evaluated using common error based performance indices indicating that the FLC has roughly 50% better performance than the PID controller.     

An iterative fuzzy controller for pneumatic muscle driven rehabilitation robot

Pneumatic muscle actuators (PMA) show great potential in wearable and compliant rehabilitation devices as they are flexible and lightweight. However, the varying and non-linear behavior of the actuators imposes modeling and control challenges, which are difficult to comprehend. This research proposes a new wearable ankle rehabilitation robot, first of its kind in the world driven by PMAs in a parallel form. The focus of this presented work is to develop an iterative controller to overcome the challenges for PMA driven devices. A fuzzy feedforward controller is proposed to accurately predict the behavior of PMA. A modified Genetic Algorithm (GA) is developed to identify the optimal set of parameters for the fuzzy controller. The iterative controller has been tested on the proposed PMA driven ankle rehabilitation robot, and is found capable of mapping the complex relationship in length, force and pressure of the PMA with high accuracy. Experimental results show excellent trajectory tracking performance of the controller when given various desired trajectories.     

基于模型预测—中枢模式发生器的六足机器人轨迹跟踪控制

为了模仿动物卓越的运动能力和环境适应能力,提出了六足仿生机器人的轨迹跟踪控制方法。首先建立了机器人的运动学模型,接着通过转向参数将机器人的速度和角速度与中枢模式发生器（CPG）参数结合起来,设计了转换函数。然后通过转换函数将模型预测控制器和CPG网络结合起来,提出了基于CPG的模型预测控制器（MPC-CPG）,并证明了其稳定性。最后对机器人跟踪圆周轨迹和直线轨迹进行了仿真和实验。实验表明,在有初始误差的条件下,机器人在MPC-CPG控制器的作用下能够快速地消除位置误差和航向角误差,跟踪上参考轨迹。轨迹跟踪的位置误差始终保持在-0.1～0.1 m,航向角误差保持在-27?～20?。在MPC-CPG控制器的作用下,机器人不仅具有较高的轨迹跟踪精度,同时还表现出良好的运动平滑性和协调性,进一步验证了所提出的MPC-CPG控制器的有效性。     

基于视觉图像的全向移动机器人轨迹跟踪控制研究

机器人轨迹节点跟踪比较难,导致机器人实际轨迹偏离期望轨迹,所以设计基于视觉图像的全向移动机器人轨迹跟踪控制方法;构建全向移动机器人的运动学数学模型,以此确定机器人移动轨迹数学模型;以移动轨迹数学模型为基础,按照视觉图像划分标准对全向移动机器人运动图像的分割,通过分离目标节点的方式提取运动学特征参量,完成机器人轨迹节点跟踪处理;结合节点跟踪处理结果,将运动学不等式与误差向量作为机器人轨迹跟踪控制的约束条件,利用滑模变结构搭建轨迹跟踪控制模型,实现全向移动机器人轨迹跟踪控制;对比实验结果表明,所设计的方法应用后,全向移动机器人角速度曲线、线速度曲线与期望运动轨迹曲线之间的贴合程度均超过90%,满足全向移动机器人轨迹跟踪控制要求。     

基于Sigmoid函数的机器人鲁棒滑模跟踪控制系统设计

为了保证机器人能够在保持稳定的情况下,按照规划轨迹执行工作任务,从硬件和软件两个方面,设计了基于Sigmoid函数的机器人鲁棒滑模跟踪控制系统。装设机器人传感器与状态观测器,改装机器人鲁棒滑模跟踪控制器,完成系统硬件设计;综合机器人结构、运动机理和动力机制3个方面,构建机器人数学模型;根据状态数据采集结果与规划轨迹之间的偏差,计算机器人跟踪控制量;依据滑模运动与切换方程,利用Sigmoid函数生成机器人鲁棒滑模控制律,将生成控制指令作用在机器人执行元件上,实现系统的鲁棒滑模跟踪控制功能;在系统测试与分析中,所设计控制系统的平均位置跟踪控制误差为0.93 mm,与设定轨迹目标基本重合,机器人姿态角跟踪控制误差为0.06 mm,具有较好的鲁棒滑模跟踪控制效果,能够有效提高机器人鲁棒滑模跟踪控制精度。     

基于GALIL控制器的踝康复机器人控制系统

介绍了基于GALIL运动控制器的踝关节康复机器人的控制系统。该踝关节康复机器人引入生物融合理念,基于4-UP(Pe)S/PS并联机构,采用PC+运动控制器相对独立运行的并行控制模式,实现踝关节复合康复运动。用户利用PC机实现康复机器人康复运动轨迹的规划,康复运动控制程序的自动编制和运动控制器程序的下载,通过操作面板控制运动控制器相对PC独立地执行程序。这种并行控制模式能够在满足康复运动相对复杂的空间康复轨迹需要的前提下,保证踝关节康复机器人系统的反应速度。该系统成功地用于踝关节康复机器人系统,取得了很好的康复效果,为PC+运动控制器模式的康复系统设计提供了范例。     

三轮驱动移动机器人轨迹跟踪控制

针对三轮驱动移动机器人在轨迹跟踪控制过程中运动不平滑的问题,建立了移动机器人在一定运动约束条件下的运动学模型。根据移动机器人位姿误差微分方程的描述,设计了基于后退时变状态反馈方法的移动机器人轨迹跟踪控制器。基于李雅普诺夫方法,对轨迹跟踪控制器的稳定性进行了分析,证明了该控制器能够保证闭环系统全局一致渐进稳定。仿真结果验证了运动学模型的正确性,以及轨迹跟踪控制器的有效性。     

A new adaptive tracking control scheme of wheeled mobile robot without longitudinal velocity measurement

This paper proposes a new adaptive trajectory tracking control scheme of the wheeled mobile robot without longitudinal velocity measurement. First, based on a kinematic controller, we obtain a new tracking error equation, which is suitable to develop an adaptive controller. Then, we develop a new adaptive trajectory tracking controller, which does not need any accurate values of the wheeled mobile robot parameters, including the driving motor parameters. Moreover, as the longitudinal velocity measurement is still difficult, this controller is developed without longitudinal velocity measurement. In addition, this new adaptive controller introduces a method to improve the control performance. The stability of the closed‐loop system is presented using the direct Lyapunov method. Finally, numerous simulations verify the effectiveness of the new controller.     

An iterative linear quadratic regulator based trajectory tracking controller for wheeled mobile robot

We present an iterative linear quadratic regulator(ILQR) method for trajectory tracking control of a wheeled mobile robot system.The proposed scheme involves a kinematic model linearization technique,a global trajectory generation algorithm,and trajectory tracking controller design.A lattice planner,which searches over a 3D(x,y,θ) configuration space,is adopted to generate the global trajectory.The ILQR method is used to design a local trajectory tracking controller.The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated in simulation and experiment with a significantly asymmetric differential drive robot.The performance of the local controller is analyzed and compared with that of the existing linear quadratic regulator(LQR) method.According to the experiments,the new controller improves the control sequences(v,ω) iteratively and produces slightly better results.Specifically,two trajectories,’S’ and ’8’ courses,are followed with sufficient accuracy using the proposed controller.     

Adaptive tracking control of manipulators: Theory and experiments

This paper considers the trajectory tracking problem for uncertain robot manipulators and proposes two adaptive controllers as solutions to this problem. The first controller is derived under the assumption that the manipulator state is measurable, while the second strategy is developed for those applications in which only position measurements are available. The adaptive schemes are very general and computationally efficient since they do not require knowledge of either the mathematical model or the parameter values of the manipulator dynamics, and are implemented without calculation of the robot inverse dynamics or inverse kinematic transformation. It is shown that the control strategies ensure uniform boundedness of all signals in the presence of bounded disturbances, and that the ultimate size of the tracking errors can be made arbitrarily small. Experimental results are presented for a PUMA 560 manipulator and demonstrate that accurate and robust trajectory tracking can be achieved by using the proposed controllers.     

Overview of the Lucy Project: Dynamic Stabilization of a Biped Powered by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

This paper gives an overview of the Lucy project. What is special is that the biped is not actuated with the classical electrical drives, but with pleated pneumatic artificial muscles. In an antagonistic setup of such muscles both the torque and the compliance are controllable. From human walking there is evidence that joint compliance plays an important role in energy-efficient walking and running. To be able to walk at different walking speeds and step lengths, a trajectory generator and joint trajectory tracking controller are combined. The first generates dynamically stable trajectories based on the objective locomotion parameters which can be changed from step to step. The joint trajectory tracking unit controls the pressure inside the muscles so the desired motion is followed. It is based on a computed torque model and takes the torque–angle relation of the antagonistic muscle setup into account. With this strategy the robot is able to walk at a speed up to 0.15 m/s. A compliance controller is developed to reduce the energy consumption by combining active trajectory control with the exploitation of the natural dynamics. A mathematical formulation was developed to find an optimal compliance setting depending on the desired trajectory and physical properties of the system. This strategy is experimentally evaluated on a single pendulum structure and not implemented on the real robot because the walking speed of the robot is currently too slow. At the end a discussion is given about the pros and cons of building a pneumatic biped, and the control architecture used.     

基于反步法的移动机器人鲁棒跟踪控制

以四轮移动机器人为研究对象,建立了机器人完整的数学模型,包括运动学模型、动力学模型以及驱动电机模型。在机器人数学模型的基础上,采用反步法的思想设计具有全局收敛特性的鲁棒轨迹跟踪控制器,设计中考虑了驱动电机模型使控制器更符合实际控制要求,并将其分解为运动学控制器、动力学控制器以及电机控制器三部分,降低了控制器设计的难度。构造了系统的李雅普诺夫函数,证明了该类型移动机器人在所得控制器作用下,能实现对给定轨迹的全局渐近追踪。仿真实验结果表明基于反步法的控制器是有效的。     

连续电驱动四足机器人腿部机构设计与分析

提出了一种四足机器人腿部的连续电驱动（即电机整周转动驱动腿部实现摆转跨步动作）方案,设计了一种具有由切比雪夫机构、五杆机构组成的2自由度双曲柄复合连杆机构的机器人腿部结构．分析了动物的足端轨迹特性,采用轨迹圆滑、无突变、导数连续的椭圆曲线规划了机器人足端运动轨迹．以规划的足端轨迹再现为优化目标,采用遗传算法与fmincon函数内点法计算得到了腿部机构杆长的最佳尺寸．在此基础上,建立了机器人仿真模型,通过Adams仿真分析了机器人腿部机构的足端运动特性,并研制了腿部结构性能测试平台．完成了单腿足端运动轨迹跟踪实验,验证了腿部结构设计方案的可行性．     

非完整移动机器人轨迹跟踪自适应控制器设计

针对轮式移动机器人的非完整运动学模型,将自适应反演控制技术和李亚普诺夫稳定性理论应用于机器人轨迹跟踪控制,设计了具有全局渐近稳定性的自适应轨迹跟踪控制器,并在Matlab环境下实现了移动机器人对直线和椭圆2种轨迹追踪的仿真实验.实验表明:该控制方法在轨迹跟踪控制中有较好的航向跟踪效果,对机器人非完整系统模型的非线性特性...     

基于预测控制的非连续路段下移动机器人的轨迹跟踪

针对非连续路段下的轨迹跟踪问题,设计了基于观测型的预测控制器。首先建立了移动机器人的运动学模型,根据机器人的运动学模型得出了其位姿误差微分方程;然后在轨迹跟踪问题的基础上,设计了系统的观测模型,通过将预测控制器与系统的观测模型结合,设计了观测型预测控制器;最后再MATLAB环境下,利用本文所设计的控制器对移动机器人在非连续路段下的轨迹跟踪问题进行仿真,并将仿真结果与PID控制器控制的仿真结果进行对比,由仿真结果可以看出,本文所设计的控制器具有很好的鲁棒性、快速性及稳定性,可适用于移动机器人的轨迹跟踪的研究。     

信息融合在移动机器人轨迹模糊跟踪中的应用

在机器人轨迹跟踪过程中,机器人自动跟踪的精度直接影响跟踪效果;以3自由度移动机器人为研究对象研究了机器人轨迹模糊跟踪系统,且在该系统中,采用多个传感器同时对移动机器人进行跟踪检测,并利用融合算法对其进行融合,将融合后的结果作为模糊控制器的输入;计算机仿真结果表明,在3自由度移动机器人轨迹跟踪中,采用多传感器信息融合是合理的、可行的;且可以减少跟踪过程中由传感器引起的误差对跟踪精度的影响,提高控制精度.