Robust motion control with the consideration algorithm of joint torque saturation for a redundant manipulator

As each joint actuator of a robot manipulator has a limit value of torque, the motion control system should consider the torque saturation. In order to consider the torque saturation in a transient state, this paper proposes a new redundant motion control system using the autonomous consideration algorithm on torque saturation. A Jacobian matrix of a redundant robot manipulator can select the optimal one considering its motion energy in the steady state. When the motion control system carries out fast motion and quick disturbance suppression, a high joint torque is required in a transient state. In the experimental results, under the condition of having a large payload torque and a fast motion reference, the proposed redundant manipulator control realizes the quick robot motion robustly and smoothly.     

Nonlinear Control of a Robot Manipulator with a Nonholonomic Jerk Constraint

We study the control of a prismatic‐prismatic‐revolute (PPR) robot manipulator subject to a nonholonomic jerk constraint, i.e., a third‐order nonintegrable design constraint. The mathematical model is obtained using the method of Lagrange multipliers. The control inputs are two forces and a torque applied to the prismatic joints and the revolute joint, respectively. The control objective is to control the robot end‐effector movement while keeping the transverse jerk component as zero. The main result of the paper is the construction of a feedback control algorithm that transfers the manipulator from any initial equilibrium configuration to the zero equilibrium configuration in finite time. The effectiveness of the algorithm is illustrated through a simulation example.     

Study of the internal dynamics of an autonomous mobile robot

The requirement of ideal rolling without sideways slipping for wheels imposes nonholonomic (non-integrable) constraints on the motion of the wheels and consequently on the motion of wheeled mobile robots. From the control point of view, the dynamics of nonholonomic systems can be divided in two parts: external and internal dynamics. The dimension of the external dynamics of nonholonomic systems depends on the number of inputs to the system and the dimension of the internal dynamics depends on the number of independent nonholonomic constraints. For different motion control problems of nonholonomic systems, a smooth (model based) state feedback control law only deals with the system external dynamics; therefore, the system internal dynamics must be examined separately and its stability has to be analyzed and proved.In this paper, the internal dynamics of a three-wheel mobile robot with front wheel steering and driving is investigated. In particular, its internal dynamics stability is analyzed for two different situations, when the mobile robot is moving and when it is stationary.     

一种球形机器人的非线性滑模运动控制

基于非线性滑模控制方法,对一种欠驱动的球形机器人的运动控制问题进行了研究．球形机器人的输入由两个相互正交的力矩组成．在非完整约束的条件下,分别建立球形机器人的运动学和动力学模型,并通过输入变换将动力学模型变换为一个两输入的二阶系统．基于非线性滑模控制方法分别设计了横向姿态控制器和纵向速度控制器,可以保证被控的运动状态收敛到期望的邻域内．仿真和实验结果验证了所建立的动力学模型和控制方法的有效性．     

Optimal Control of Underactuated Nonholonomic Mechanical Systems

In this paper, we use an affine connection formulation to study an optimal control problem for a class of nonholonomic, underactuated mechanical systems. In particular, we aim to minimize the norm-squared of the control input to move the system from an initial to a terminal state. We consider systems evolving on general manifolds. The class of nonholonomic systems we study in this paper includes, in particular, wheeled-type vehicles, which are important for many robotic locomotion systems. The two special aspects of this optimal control problem are the nonholonomic constraints and underactuation. Nonholonomic constraints restrict the evolution of the system to a distribution on the manifold. The nonholonomic connection is used to express the constrained equations of motion. Many robotic systems are underactuated since control inputs are usually applied through the robot's internal configuration space only. While we do not consider symmetries with respect to group actions in this paper, the fact that the system is underactuated is taken into account in our problem formulation. This allows one to compute reaction forces due to any inputs applied in directions orthogonal to the constraint distribution. We illustrate our ideas by considering a simple example on a three-dimensional manifold, including obstacle avoidance using the method of navigation functions.     

Force-guided motions of a 6-d.o.f. industrial robot with a joint space approach

This article deals with the interaction between humans and industrial robots, more specifically with the new design and implementation of an algorithm for force-guided motions of a 6-d.o.f. robot. It may be used to comfortably teach positions without using any teaching pendant or for some assistance tasks. For this purpose, from readings of the force/torque sensor mounted in the robot wrist, the gravity forces and torques first have to be eliminated. To control the robot in joint space, it is then convenient to transform the external force and torque values from Cartesian space into joint space using the manipulator transposed Jacobian. This is why with the present approach the Jacobian matrix of the robot used was calculated. Now, from the computed joint torques, suitable position commands of the robot arm can be generated to obtain the desired behavior. A suggestion for this desired behavior is also included in this article. It is based on the impedance control approach in joint space. The proposed algorithm was implemented with the standard Stäubli RX90B industrial robot.     

Robust robot manipulator control with autonomous consideration algorithm of torque saturation

As each joint actuator of a robot manipulator has a limit value of torque, the motion control system should consider the torque saturation. Conventional motion control based on robust acceleration controller cannot consider the torque saturation and it often causes an oscillated or wrong response. This paper proposes a new autonomous consideration method of joint torque saturation for robust manipulator motion control. The proposed method consists of three on-line autonomous algorithms. These algorithms are the torque limitation algorithm in joint space, the adjustment algorithm of motion control in Cartesian space, and the adjustment algorithm of motion reference in Cartesian space. The robot motion control using the proposed algorithms realizes smooth and robust robot motion response.     

Kinematic path‐tracking of mobile robot using iterative learning control

This paper develops a kinematic path‐tracking algorithm for a nonholonomic mobile robot using an iterative learning control (ILC) technique. The proposed algorithm produces a robot velocity command, which is to be executed by the proper dynamic controller of the robot. The difference between the velocity command and the actual velocity acts as state disturbances in the kinematic model of the mobile robot. Given the kinematic model with state disturbances, we present an ILC‐based path‐tracking algorithm. An iterative learning rule with both predictive and current learning terms is used to overcome uncertainties and the disturbances in the system. It shows that the system states, outputs, and control inputs are guaranteed to converge to the desired trajectories with or without state disturbances, output disturbances, or initial state errors. Simulations and experiments using an actual mobile robot verify the feasibility and validity of the proposed learning algorithm. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An Experimental Study on Cartesian Impedance Control for a Joint Torque-Based Manipulator

The purpose of this paper is to present our results on experimental investigations on Cartesian impedance control and nonlinearity compensation for our harmonic drive robot based on joint torque sensors. The imperfection of the cubic model for harmonic drive friction is detected according to friction identification experiments. In addition, five different Cartesian impedance control schemes are considered and four of them are tested by corresponding experiments with/without friction compensation. Experimental results tell us that the force-based impedance control strategy is more suitable than the position-based strategy for the harmonic drive robot based on joint torque feedback.     

Control of giant swing motion of a two-link horizontal bar gymnastic robot

We investigated a control method to realize the three different types of free giant swing motions produced by a two-link horizontal bar gymnastic robot. By evaluating the eigenvalues of the transitional error matrix on the Poincare plane, it was found that the stable giant swing motions could be obtained by a proposed configuration control, in which the actuated joint torque is controlled such that the measured state variables follow the reference configuration with respect to the angular position of the passive joint. We also demonstrated that the two types of stable giant swing motions could be accomplished by the configuration method.     

A Differentially Flat Open-Chain Space Robot with Arbitrarily Oriented Joint Axes and Two Momentum Wheels at the Base

The motion of a free-floating space robot is characterized by the principle of conservation of angular momentum. It is well known that these angular momentum equations are nonholonomic, i.e., are nonintegrable rate equations. If the base of the free-floating robot is partially actuated, it is difficult to determine joint trajectories that will result in point-to-point motion of the entire robot system in its configuration space. However, if the drift-less system associated with the angular momentum conservation equations is differentially flat, point-to-point maneuvers of the free-floating robot in its configuration space can be constructed by properly choosing trajectories in the differentially flat space. The primary advantages of this approach is that it avoids the use of nonlinear programming (NLP) to solve the nonintegrable rate equations, which at best can provide only approximate solutions. A currently open research problem is how to design a differentially flat space robot with under-actuated base. The contributions of this technical note are as follows: i) study systematically the structure of the nonholonomic rate constraint equations of a free-floating open-chain space robot with two momentum wheels at the base and arbitrarily oriented joint axes; ii) identify a set of sufficient conditions on the inertia distribution under which the system exhibits differential flatness; iii) exploit these design conditions for point-to-point trajectory planning and control of the space robot.     

非线性仿射控制系统的高阶滑模控制

研究非线性仿射系统的高阶滑模控制问题.通过适当的输入及非线性状态变换将系 统分解为一个关于切换变量及其高阶导数的低阶线性子系统和一个关于滑模的低阶非线性子 系统,进而给出了其高阶滑模控制器的设计方法.最后,对两轮驱动的非完整移动机器人进行 了数值仿真,结果表明高阶滑模控制在抖振减弱方面确实具有一定的作用.     

Near-optimal nonholonomic motion planning for a system of coupledrigid bodies

How does a falling cat change her orientation in midair without violating angular momentum constraint? This has become an interesting problem to both control engineers and roboticists. In this paper, we address this problem together with a constructive solution. First, we show that a falling cat problem is equivalent to the constructive nonlinear controllability problem. Thus, the same principle and algorithm used by a falling cat can be used for space robotic applications, such as reorientation of a satellite using rotors and attitude control of a space structure using internal motion, and other robotic tasks, such as dextrous manipulation with multifingered robotic hands and nonholonomic motion planning for mobile robots. Then, using ideas from Ritz approximation theory, we develop a simple algorithm for motion planning of a falling cat. Finally, we test the algorithm through simulation on two widely accepted models of a falling cat. It is interesting to note that one set of simulation results closely resembles the real trajectories employed by a falling cat     

Investigations on the Hybrid Tracking Control of an Underactuated Autonomous Underwater Robot

The problem of trajectory tracking control of an underactuated autonomous underwater robot (AUR) in a three-dimensional (3-D) space is investigated in this paper. The control of an underactuated robot is different from fully actuated robots in many aspects. In particular, these robot systems do not satisfy Brockett's necessary condition for feedback stabilization and no continuous time-invariant state feedback control law exists that makes a specified equilibrium of the closed-loop system asymptotically stable. The uncertainty of hydrodynamic parameters, along with the coupled, nonlinear dynamics of the underwater robot, also makes the navigation and tracking control a difficult task. The proposed hybrid control law is developed by combining sliding mode control (SMC) and classical proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control methods to reduce the tracking errors arising out of disturbances, as well as variations in vehicle parameters like buoyancy. Here, a trajectory planner computes the body-fixed linear and angular velocities, as well as vehicle orientations corresponding to a given 3-D inertial trajectory, which yields a feasible 6-d.o.f. trajectory. This trajectory is used to compute the control signals for the three available controllable inputs by the hybrid controller. A supervisory controller is used to switch between the SMC and PID control as per a predefined switching law. The switching function parameters are optimized using Taguchi design techniques. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed controller is investigated by comparing numerically with classical SMC and traditional linear control systems in the presence of disturbances. Numerical simulations using the full set of nonlinear equations of motion show that the controller does quite well in dealing with the plant nonlinearity and parameter uncertainties for trajectory tracking. The proposed controller response shows less tracking error without the usually present control chattering. Some practical features of this control law are also discussed.     

A study on a brachiation controller for a multi-locomotion robot — realization of smooth,continuous brachiation

In this paper, we present a control method to realize smooth continuous brachiation. The target brachiation is basically divided into two actions: a swing action and a locomotion action. In order to realize the continuous brachiation effectively and smoothly, it is necessary to start the swing action as soon as the robot grasps the front target bar at the end of the locomotion action. The collision, which occurs at the moment the robot grips the target bar, affects the pendulum motion of the robot. The action of bending the elbow joint of the swinging arm is proposed in order to solve this gripping problem. The elbow-bending action enables the robot to decrease the impact forces and use the excess mechanical energy after the end of the locomotion phase. Thus, there is no loss of energy and waste of time during the subsequent swing phase. Experimental results show that the robot can successfully achieve smooth, continuous brachiation.     

一种苹果采摘机器人关节伺服控制系统设计及仿真

当前,苹果采摘机器人大多选用工业机械臂,关节控制采用电机加减速装置来提高控制精度、增大驱动力矩,这无疑会增加系统的复杂性、成本以及降低系统控制性能;为改善这种情况,给出一种基于直流力矩电动机加谐波减速器的苹果采摘机器人关节控制方案,系统可大大减小驱动机构体积,提高系统刚性,实现低速稳定的精准控制;MATLAB环境下仿真结果表明,在0.5°和60°的阶跃给定下,系统超调量和稳态误差均为0;在幅值为5°,频率为3.14rad/s正弦信号输入下,系统输出能够完全跟随输入;系统控制精度达到了苹果采摘要求,为后续简化采摘机器人机械臂结构、甚至实现直接驱动提供了有力的理论支持。     

无机械辅助结构自行车机器人控制仿真及实现

为实现自行车机器人的平稳直线行驶,论证了无机械辅助结构、仅靠调整车把维持自平衡的后驱自行车机器人动力学建模、姿态控制、系统仿真及实物样机实验.针对具有典型对称性欠驱动非完整约束的自行车机器人系统难于实现平衡控制问题,首先基于拉格朗日方法分析系统力学机理,建立简化动力学模型.然后基于部分反馈线性化原理,对车体横滚角与转把力矩的欠驱动子系统进行线性化处理及模糊自适应控制.仿真及实验结果表明,有效地实现了自行车机器人直线运动自平衡控制,为进一步开展自行车机器人以及其他欠驱动系统平衡运动控制奠定理论基础.     

带滚动约束轮移式机器人动态规划的研究

根据轮移式机器人的运动学模型,研究受到滚动约束轮移式机器人在动态环境中的运动规划问题.将快速随机搜索树算法与优化方法相结合,实现了一种新的算法,规划出既可避障又可满足机器人滚动约束的运动.将该算法运用到动态环境下机器人的运动规划中,并通过仿真表明该算法能较好地引导机器人在动态环境中实现满足滚动约束的避障路径.     

卓越Ⅰ型仿人机器人底层关节控制器的设计

为了实现卓越Ⅰ型机器人在实际环境中稳步行走,设计了底层控制系统中的关节控制器用于控制舵机。选用DSP TMS320F2812作为处理器,充分利用其全数字型,集成度高,体积小,低功耗以及可实现多轴运动的特点,对底层各个关节舵机进行控制,实现既定舵机的运转,以及将舵机的转速和位置等相关传感器的信息反馈给上级控制处理器实现对关节舵机精确的控制,并通过DSP TMS320F2812的两个事件管理器分别同时控制机器人的左右腿的关节舵机单元,提高了机器人在实际行走以及执行任务过程中的实时性、准确性以及稳定性。     

Dynamic Rolling-Walk Motion by the Limb Mechanism Robot ASTERISK

New dynamic rolling-walk motion for a multi-legged robot with error compensation is proposed. The motion is realized by using the isotropic leg arrangement and the dynamic center of mass control inspired by bipedal robots. By using the preview control of the zero moment point (ZMP) with a cart-table model based on the bipedal robot's technique, the robot's center of mass trajectory is planned for the dynamic motion. The resolved momentum control for manipulating the multi-links robot as a single mass model is also implemented in the system to maintain the stability of the robot. In the new dynamic rolling-walk motion, the robot switches between the two-leg supporting phase and three-leg supporting phase to achieve dynamic motion with the preview control of the ZMP and resolved momentum control as dynamic motion controllers. The authors analyzed the motion and confirmed the feasibility in the Open Dynamics Engine before testing the motion with an actual robot. Due to the difficulties of controlling the ZMP during the two-leg supporting phase, the authors implemented error compensation by using a gyro sensor and compared the results.