A neural network compensator for uncertainties of roboticsmanipulators

A neural network controller for trajectory control of robotic manipulators that is used not to internalize the inverse dynamic model of the controlled object but to compensate only the uncertainties of the robotic manipulator is presented. Its performance is compared with that of the conventional adaptive scheme. The results show the ability of the neural network controller to adapt to unstructured effects. A learning method for the neural network compensator with true teaching signals is shown. The tracking error of the robotic manipulator was greatly reduced when this controller was used     

Adaptive Neuro-Wavelet Control for Switching Power Supplies

The switching power supplies can convert one level of electrical voltage into another level by switching action. They are very popular because of their high efficiency and small size. This paper proposes an adaptive neuro-wavelet (ANW) control system for the switching power supplies. In the ANW control system, a neural controller is the main controller used to mimic an ideal controller and a compensated controller is designed to recover the residual of the approximation error. In this study, an online adaptive law with a variable optimal learning-rate is derived based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, so that not only the stability of the system can be guaranteed but also the convergence of controller parameters can be speeded up. Then, the proposed ANW control system is applied to control a forward switching power supply. Experimental results show that the proposed ANW controller can achieve favorable regulation performance for the switching power supply even under input voltage and load resistance variations     

Identification and control of continuous-time nonlinear systems via dynamic neural networks

In this paper, we present an algorithm for the online identification and adaptive control of a class of continuous-time nonlinear systems via dynamic neural networks. The plant considered is an unknown multi-input/multi-output continuous-time higher order nonlinear system. The control scheme includes two parts: a dynamic neural network is employed to perform system identification and a controller based on the proposed dynamic neural network is developed to track a reference trajectory. Stability analysis for the identification and the tracking errors is performed by means of Lyapunov stability criterion. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness of these methods by computer simulations of the Duffing chaotic system and one-link rigid robot manipulator. The simulation results demonstrate that the model-based dynamic neural network control scheme is appropriate for control of unknown continuous-time nonlinear systems with output disturbance noise.     

Trajectory control of robotic manipulators using neural networks

The authors present a nonlinear compensator using neural networks for trajectory control of robotic manipulators. The neural networks are not used to learn inverse-dynamics but to compensate nonlinearities of robotic manipulators. The performance of the proposed neural network controller is compared with that of the adaptive controller proposed by J.J. Craig (1988), and the effectiveness of the proposed neural network controller in compensating the unstructured uncertainties is clarified. A learning scheme using a model of known dynamics of manipulators is also proposed. The model learning can be done offline and needs no data recording of actual manipulator operation     

Sliding-mode-controlled slider-crank mechanism with fuzzy neuralnetwork

The dynamic response of a sliding-mode-controlled slider-crank mechanism, which is driven by a permanent-magnet (PM) synchronous servo motor, is studied in this paper. First, a position controller is developed based on the principles of sliding-mode control. Moreover, to relax the requirement of the bound of uncertainties in the design of a sliding-mode controller, a fuzzy neural network (FNN) sliding-mode controller is investigated, in which a FNN is adopted to adjust the control gain in a switching control law on line to satisfy the sliding mode condition. In addition, to guarantee the convergence of tracking error, analytical methods based on a discrete-type Lyapunov function are proposed to determine the varied learning rates of the FNN. Numerical and experimental results show that the dynamic behaviors of the proposed controller-motor-mechanism system are robust with regard to parametric variations and external disturbances. Furthermore, compared with the sliding-mode controller, smaller control effort results and the chattering phenomenon is much reduced by the proposed FNN sliding-mode controller     

Neuro-Fuzzy Dynamic-Inversion-Based Adaptive Control for Robotic Manipulators—Discrete Time Case

In this paper, we present a stable discrete-time adaptive tracking controller using a neuro-fuzzy (NF) dynamic-inversion for a robotic manipulator with its dynamics approximated by a dynamic T-S fuzzy model. The NF dynamic-inversion constructed by a dynamic NF (DNF) system is used to compensate for the robot inverse dynamics for a better tracking performance. By assigning the dynamics of the DNF system, the dynamic performance of a robot control system can be guaranteed at the initial control stage, which is very important for enhancing system stability and adaptive learning. The discrete-time adaptive control composed of the NF dynamic-inversion and NF variable structure control (NF-VSC) is developed to stabilize the closed-loop system and ensure the high-quality tracking. The NF-VSC enhances the stability of the controlled system and improves the system dynamic performance during the NF learning. The system stability and the convergence of tracking errors are guaranteed by the Lyapunov stability theory, and the learning algorithm for the DNF system is obtained thereby. An example is given to show the viability and effectiveness of the proposed control approach     

Neural-Network-Based Terminal Sliding-Mode Control of Robotic Manipulators Including Actuator Dynamics

A neural-network-based terminal sliding-mode control (SMC) scheme is proposed for robotic manipulators including actuator dynamics. The proposed terminal SMC (TSMC) alleviates some main drawbacks (such as contradiction between control efforts in the transient and tracking errors in the steady state) in the linear SMC while maintains its robustness to the uncertainties. Moreover, an indirect method is developed to avoid the singularity problem in the initial TSMC. In the proposed control scheme, a radial basis function neural network (NN) is adopted to approximate the nonlinear dynamics of the robotic manipulator. Meanwhile, a robust control term is added to suppress the modeling error and estimate the error of the NN. Finite time convergence and stability of the closed loop system can be guaranteed by Lyapunov theory. Finally, the proposed control scheme is applied to a robotic manipulator. Experimental results confirm the validity of the proposed control scheme by comparing it with other control strategies.      

Robust cerebellar model articulation controller design for unknown nonlinear systems

In this study, a robust cerebellar model articulation controller (RCMAC) is designed for unknown nonlinear systems. The RCMAC is comprised of a cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) and a robust controller. The CMAC is utilized to approximate an ideal controller, and the weights of the CMAC are on-line tuned by the derived adaptive law based on the Lyapunov sense. The robust controller is designed to guarantee a specified H/sup /spl infin// robust tracking performance. In the RCMAC design, the sliding-mode control method is utilized to derive the control law, so that the developed control scheme has more robustness against the uncertainty and approximation error. Finally, the proposed RCMAC is applied to control a chaotic circuit. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed control scheme can achieve favorable tracking performance with unknown the controlled system dynamics.     

Neural-network-based adaptive control for induction servomotordrive system

A neural-network-based adaptive control (NNAC) design method is proposed to control an induction servomotor. In this NNAC design, a neural network (NN) controller is investigated to mimic a feedback linearization control law; and a compensation controller is designed to compensate for the approximation error between the feedback linearization control law and the NN controller. The interconnection weights of the NN can be online tuned in the sense of the Lyapunov stability theorem; thus, the stability of the control system can be guaranteed. Additionally, in this NNAC system design, an error estimation mechanism is investigated to estimate the bound of approximation error so that the chattering phenomenon of the control effort can be reduced. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed NNAC servomotor control systems can achieve favorable tracking and robust performance with regard to parameter variations and external load disturbances     

Adaptive integral robust control of hydraulic systems with asymptotic tracking

In this paper, an adaptive integral robust controller is developed for high accuracy motion tracking control of a double-rod hydraulic actuator. We take unknown constant parameters including the load and hydraulic parameters, and lumped unmodeled disturbances in inertia load dynamics and pressure dynamics into consideration. A discontinuous projection-based adaptive control law is constructed to handle parametric uncertainties, and an integral of the sign of the extended error based robust feedback term to attenuate unmodeled disturbances. Moreover, the present controller does not require a priori knowledge on the bounds of the lumped disturbances and the gain of the designed robust control law can be tuned itself. The major feature of the proposed full state controller is that it can theoretically guarantee global asymptotic tracking performance with a continuous control input, in the presence of various parametric uncertainties and unmodeled disturbances such as unmodeled dynamics as well as external disturbances via Lyapunov analysis. Comparative experimental results are obtained for motion control of a double-rod hydraulic actuator and verify the high-performance nature of the proposed control strategy.     

Asymptotic trajectory tracking of manipulators using uncalibrated visual feedback

To implement a position-based visual feedback controller for a manipulator, it is necessary to calibrate the homogeneous transformation matrix between its base frame and the vision frame besides intrinsic parameters of the vision system. The accuracy of such a calibration greatly affects the control performance. Substantial efforts must be made to obtain a highly accurate transformation matrix. In this paper, we propose an adaptive visual feedback controller for manipulators when the homogeneous transformation matrix is not calibrated. It is assumed that the vision system can measure the 3D position and orientation of the manipulator in real-time. Based on an important observation that the unknown transformation matrix can be separated from the visual Jacobian matrix, we propose an adaptive algorithm, similar to the model-based adaptive algorithm, to estimate the unknown matrix online. The use of the proposed visual feedback controller greatly simplifies the implementation of a manipulator-vision workcell. This controller is especially useful when such a pre-calibration is not possible. It is proved by Lyapunov approach that the motion of the manipulator approaches asymptotically to the desired trajectory. Simulations and experimental results are included to demonstrate performance of this adaptive visual feedback controller.     

Adaptive Variable Structure Control for Uncertain Switched Delay Systems

This paper investigates the robust H _∞ control problem for a class of uncertain switched delay systems with parameter uncertainties, unknown nonlinear perturbations, and external disturbance. Based on the multiple Lyapunov functions method, a sufficient condition for the solvability of the robust H _∞ control problem is derived by employing a hysteresis switching law and variable structure controllers. When the upper bounds of the nonlinear perturbations are unknown, an adaptive variable structure control strategy is developed. The use of the adaptive technique is to adapt the unknown upper bounds of the nonlinear disturbances so that the objective of asymptotic stabilization with an H _∞-norm bound is achieved under the hysteresis switching law. A numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed design methods.     

Adaptive Control of Two-Axis Motion Control System Using Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Neural Network

An interval type-2 fuzzy neural network (IT2FNN) control system is proposed for the precision control of a two-axis motion control system in this paper. The adopted two-axis motion control system is composed of two permanent-magnet linear synchronous motors. In the proposed IT2FNN control system, an IT2FNN, which combines the merits of an interval type-2 fuzzy logic system and a neural network, is developed to approximate an unknown dynamic function. Moreover, adaptive learning algorithms that can train the parameters of the IT2FNN online are derived using the Lyapunov stability theorem. Furthermore, a robust compensator is proposed to confront the uncertainties, including a minimum reconstructed error, optimal parameter vectors, and higher order terms in Taylor series. To relax the requirement for the value of the lumped uncertainty in the robust controller, an adaptive lumped uncertainty estimation law is also investigated. Last, the proposed control algorithms are implemented in a TMS320C32 digital-signal-processor-based control computer. From the simulated and experimental results, the contour tracking performance of the two-axis motion control system is significantly improved, and the robustness can be obtained as well using the proposed IT2FNN control system.     

A wireless reconfigurable modular manipulator and its control system

As the core of Industry 4.0, the intelligent manufacturing technology requires robotic arms to be networked, customized and flexible. Traditional industrial robots have a large number of electrical cables. The end effectors cannot be easily replaced. In this paper, a reconfigurable modular arm with quick replacement of tools and its neural adaptive control system are developed. It consists of an anthropomorphic 7 degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulator, a reconfigurable connection mechanism (RCM) and a wireless controller. Based on the modular design ideas, each joint is integrated with a motor, a harmonic reducer, two encoders and a servo controller to achieve high torque capacity but keep light weight. Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires and steel spheres are used in the RCM to provide mechanical and electrical connections between the arm and the end effector for rapid replacement. The central controller communicates with each servo controller through wireless communication links. Furthermore, the neural adaptive control method compensating position and force tracking errors caused by the model uncertainty and time delay is addressed. Finally, the prototype is fabricated and experiments are carried out. The developed arm has high position accuracy, force control accuracy, and reliable reconfigurable capability.     

Adaptive neuro-fuzzy control of a flexible manipulator

This paper describes an adaptive neuro-fuzzy control system for controlling a flexible manipulator with variable payload. The controller proposed in this paper is comprised of a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) in the feedback configuration and two dynamic recurrent neural networks in the forward path. A dynamic recurrent identification network (RIN) is used to identify the output of the manipulator system, and a dynamic recurrent learning network (RLN) is employed to learn the weighting factor of the fuzzy logic. It is envisaged that the integration of fuzzy logic and neural network based-controller will encompass the merits of both technologies, and thus provide a robust controller for the flexible manipulator system. The fuzzy logic controller, based on fuzzy set theory, provides a means for converting a linguistic control strategy into control action and offering a high level of computation. On the other hand, the ability of a dynamic recurrent network structure to model an arbitrary dynamic nonlinear system is incorporated to approximate the unknown nonlinear input–output relationship using a dynamic back propagation learning algorithm. Simulations for determining the number of modes to describe the dynamics of the system and investigating the robustness of the control system are carried out. Results demonstrate the good performance of the proposed control system.     

Experimental evaluation of adaptive and robust schemes for robotmanipulator control

In this paper, adaptive and robust control schemes are compared in the tracking control of robot manipulator. In adaptive control, the authors classify the adaptive control laws that have been proposed into three types. They show that the most important difference among them is that in their PD gains. They investigate their tracking performances by laboratory experiment and show that they can have similar performances by adjusting their equivalent PD gains almost equally. In robust control, two degree of freedom (TDOF) controller is examined. The authors demonstrate its strong disturbance rejection performance and robustness to parameter variation by experiment. They analyze the stability of TDOF controller against the payload change. Finally, through these experiments, they consider the advantages of adaptive and robust schemes for robot manipulator control     

An improved trajectory tracking decentralized adaptive controllerfor robot manipulators

A decentralized adaptive nonlinear controller for a robot manipulator is presented in this paper. Based on the promising results obtained by the decentralized adaptive PID control algorithms proposed by Seraji and other researchers, the authors redesigned the Lyapunov function, and as a result, achieved a further simplification of the control algorithm and better trajectory tracking performance. The main advantages of the proposed controller over similar controllers are the considerably faster convergence of tracking error, relatively simpler structure, and smoother control activity. Another advantage of this controller is that it only requires local position and velocity measurements, and it does not make use of the exact centralized mathematical model of the robot manipulator. Finally, the authors demonstrate through computer simulation the robustness of their controller against parameter variations and disturbances     

Robust learning control of a high precision planar parallel manipulator

End-point positioning accuracy and fast settling time are essential in the motion system aimed at semiconductor packaging applications. In this paper, a novel robust learning control method for a direct-drive planar parallel manipulator is presented. A frequency-domain system identification approach is used to identify the high frequency dynamic of the manipulator. A robust control design method is employed to design a stable, fast tracking response feedback controller with less sensitivity to high frequency disturbance and the control parameters are determined using genetic algorithm. A Fourier-series-based iterative learning controller is designed and used on the feedforward path of the controller to further improve the settling time by reducing the dynamic tracking error of the manipulator. Experimental results demonstrate that the planar parallel manipulator has significant improvements on motion performance in terms of positioning accuracy, settling time and stability when compared with traditional XY-stages. This shows that the proposed manipulator provides a superior alternative to XY-motion stages for high precision positioning.     

A Robust Hybrid Intelligent Position/Force Control Scheme for Cooperative Manipulators

We examine in this paper the complex problem of simultaneous position and internal force control in multiple cooperative manipulator systems. This is done in the presence of unwanted parametric and modeling uncertainties as well as external disturbances. A decentralized adaptive hybrid intelligent control scheme is proposed here. The controller makes use of a multi-input multi-output fuzzy logic engine and a systematic online adaptation mechanism. Unlike conventional adaptive controllers, the proposed controller does not require a precise dynamical model of the system's dynamics. As a matter of fact, the controller can achieve its control objectives starting from partial or no a priori knowledge of the system's dynamics. The ability to incorporate the already acquired knowledge about the system's dynamics is among what distinguishes the proposed controller from its predecessor adaptive fuzzy controllers. Using a Lyapunov stability approach, the controller is proven to be robust in the face of varying intensity levels of the aforementioned uncertainties. The position and the internal force errors are also shown to asymptotically converge to zero under such conditions     

Design and implementation of an adaptive recurrent neural networks (ARNN) controller of the pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) manipulator

This paper presents the design, development and implementation of an adaptive recurrent neural networks (ARNN) controller suitable for real-time manipulator control applications. The unique feature of the ARNN controller is that it has dynamic self-organizing structure, fast learning speed, good generalization and flexibility in learning. The proposed adaptive algorithm focuses on fast and efficient optimization by weighting parameters of inverse recurrent neural models used in the ARNN controller. This approach is employed to implement the ARNN controller with a view to controlling the joint angle position of the highly nonlinear pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) manipulator in real-time. The performance of this novel proposed controller was found to be superior compared with a conventional PID controller. These results can be applied to control other highly nonlinear systems as well.