Adaptive variable structure controller of redundant robots with mobile/fixed obstacles avoidance

In this paper, a variable structure adaptive controller is proposed for redundant robot manipulators constrained by moving obstacles. The main objective of the controller is to force the model states of the robot to track those of a chosen reference model. In addition, the controller is designed directly in Cartesian space and no knowledge on the dynamic model is needed, except its structure. The parameters of the controller are adapted using adaptive laws obtained via Lyapunov stability analysis of the closed loop. The performances of the proposed controller are evaluated using a 3 DOF robot manipulator evolving in a vertical plane constrained by a mobile obstacle. The obtained results show its effectiveness compared to other tested variable structure controllers.     

Continuous self-adaptive control using a smoothed variable structure controller

A new continuous self-adaptive scalar control law is developed from a straightforward modification of ‘sliding’ variable structure system theory. The controller needs no parameter identification and exhibits invariance to a class of parameter variations. The continuous controller identifies certain null spaces in the state space associated with the derivatives of the switching function defined for the variable structure system and adapts itself and the time-varying switching hyperplane accordingly. The justification of the scheme and the stability of the method are highlighted. Comparisons are drawn with a previously defined discontinuous self-adaptive controller based on variable structure system theory. The general results are illustrated through the simulation of second- and third-order systems.     

A flexible controller for robots

The structure of a flexible microprocessor-based controller for a low-cost robot for component handling is described. The robot demonstrates three degrees of freedom within cylindrical coordinate motion. One axis uses end-stop pneumatic actuation with the remaining two axes being actuated by specially designed hydropneumatic drives. By using hydropneumatic actuation and incremental encoder feedback, point-to-point positioning is provided through a real-time closed-loop control algorithm designed and implemented within the controller structure. Interactive programming aids have also been implemented within the control structure to allow operatives to describe robot handling tasks by using a shop floor oriented language. Both hardware and software for the controller have been developed in a modular form to increase its flexibility allowing the modules produced to be used for the control of other work-handling systems.     

Experimental comparison of PID vs. PID plus nonlinear controller for subsea robots

This paper presents a new approach for designing simple nonlinear robust controllers for underwater vehicles. The paper presents several in-water experiments performed on the VORTEX vehicle developed by IFREMER. We first introduce some general modeling considerations of underwater vehicles, then we present the VORTEX dynamic model and some of the special features of the VORTEX vehicle that are important for control. Among these, low sampling rates for sensor and actuator nonlinearities are considered. The main aim of this paper is to experimentally investigate the benefits of adding an easy-to-tune nonlinear control loop to the actual linear compensator in order to improve the stability and the disturbance rejection properties of the closed-loop system. The advantage of this method is two-fold. First the additional nonlinear loop does not modify the original linear (PID) regulator. Second the design of this additional loop does not rely on the system model and is simple to tune. The results presented in this paper were obtained using the VORTEX vehicle both in simulation and during real experiments; they demonstrate the advantages of using a PID with this nonlinear loop over a simple PID control.     

Design and stability analysis of a variable structure adaptive backstepping controller

This paper presents the design and stability analysis of a Variable Structure Adaptive Backstepping Controller (VS‐ABC) for linear plants with relative degree one, using only input/output measurements. Instead of traditional integral adaptive laws for estimating the plant parameters, switching laws are proposed to increase robustness to parametric uncertainties and disturbances, as well as to improve transient response. Moreover, the controller design is more intuitive when compared with the original adaptive backstepping controller, since the relay amplitudes are related to the plant nominal parameters and their respective uncertainties. Simplified algorithm versions are also presented, named Compact and Relay VS‐ABC, which reduce the practical implementation complexity, and encourage applications in industrial environments. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

A novel variable structure theory applied in design for wheeled mobile robots

This article is concerned with the control of wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) using a modified variable structure theory. First, we introduce the dynamic characteristics of a WMR. Second, conventional variable structure control is reviewed. In order to considerably improve the transient response during the reaching phase, a modified variable structure control is proposed. The validity of the proposed variable structure theory is verified by means of a simulation test on a home-made wheeled mobile vehicle. The simulation results validate the superiority and practicality of the modified variable structure for WMRs.     

Adaptive hybrid control strategies for constrained robots

The problem of adaptive hybrid controller design for constrained roots with the consideration of computational efficiency is addressed. Two efficient control schemes based, respectively, on Lagrange and Newton-Euler dynamics formulation are presented. Detailed analyses on tracking properties of joint positions, velocities, and constrained forces are derived for both the Lagrange approach and the Newton-Euler approach. Although control laws in these two approaches are developed independently, a tight connection between them is found, indicating a possible bridge between general adaptive approaches based, respectively, on the two dynamics formulations     

Experimental evaluation of a multivariable adaptive nonlinear predictive controller

A new multivariable adaptive nonlinear predictive controller is designed using a general nonlinear input-output model and variable transformations. The controller is similar in form to typical linear predictive controllers can be tuned analogously or by specifying a single parameters for each controlled variable. In addition, the design procedure is computationally efficient. The new controller is compared to a multi-loop proportional-integral (PI) controller with one-way static decoupling and to an adaptive linear predictive controller through tests on a simulated nonlinear distillation column. The new controller performed well in an experimental application to a multicomponent distillation column.     

基于变结构思想的OGY同步控制器

为扩展混沌控制方法在混沌同步中的应用, 设计了一种基于变结构思想的Ott-Grebogi-Yorke(OGY)同步控制器. 基于变结构控制的思想, 将OGY混沌控制方法进行了扩展, 通过误差系统近似的线性模型寻找合适的稳定流形, 进而通过变结构控制器将误差系统的轨迹控制到稳定流形上面, 实现混沌系统的同步. 这种变结构控制策略使得OGY方法可以应用到混沌同步当中. H′enon映射的仿真结果验证了该控制策略的有效性.     

Iterative learning variable structure controller for high-speed and high-precision point-to-point motion

In this paper, an iterative learning variable structure controller is proposed for the fast point-to-point motion. The motion is first divided into two stages: high-speed motion and high-precision positioning. Then the controllers are designed for these two stages, respectively. An iterative learning law is developed to determine the switch position. Based on this switch position a controller is proposed for the high-speed motion. Subsequently, a sliding controller is designed for the high-precision positioning stage. This controller is implemented on an X–Y positioning table. The results of the experiments show that it performs well and almost no overshoot exists if the discontinuous projection is used. The settling time is also reduced greatly, which is very important in the point-to-point motion in this paper.     

Dynamics of a learning controller for surface tracking robots onunknown surfaces

An extended Kalman filter is applied to simulated sensor information as an approach to the surface estimation problem. It is assumed that a robotic probe equipped with a tactile sensor is given the task of working with a completely unknown surface. Kinematics and control based on tactile measurements are briefly discussed. An estimator which provides surface information as obtained by an inherently noisy force sensor is designed. From these estimates, a controller is given the capability of learning the constraint surface, thereby rejecting the noisy sensor data. After a short time, surface tracking is similar to the case of constrained motion on known surfaces     

A neural network controller for flexible-link robots

The object in this paper is to achieve tracking control of a partially unknown flexible-link robot arm. It is shown how to stabilize the internal dynamics by selecting a physically meaningful modified performance output for tracking; this output is the slow portion of the link-tip motions. That is, the tracking requirement is relaxed so that the internal dynamics are controllable through a boundary layer correction. The controller is composed of singular-perturbation based fast control and an outer-loop slow control. The slow subsystem is controlled by a neural network (NN) for feedback linearization, plus a PD outer-loop for tracking, and a robustifying term to assure the closed-loop stability. No off-line learning or training is needed for the NN. Tracking and stability are proven using Lyapunov techniques that yield a novel modified NN weight tuning algorithm.The research is supported by NSF grant IRI-9216545 and EPRI Grant RP8030-09.     

降低参数灵敏度的磁浮列车鲁棒悬浮控制器设计

磁浮列车的悬浮静态工作点与承载重量有关,因此对悬浮控制器的设计提出了更高的要求.以八达岭磁浮列车旅游线用的CMS-3型磁浮列车为研究对象,在分析磁浮列车悬浮控制系统的数学模型基础上,应用降低参数灵敏度的鲁棒控制器设计法对悬浮控制器进行设计,使控制器对列车质量变化的参数灵敏度明显降低.     

New methods to design an integral variable structure controller

This paper presents two methods to design a single-input/single-output integral variable structure system. Once an overall transfer function is selected, two simple ways are presented to determine the required switching surface and the control function. The proposed methods not only avoid transforming the original plant into a companion form, but also enable the resulting control system to achieve the asymptotic tracking for a step reference signal and disturbance rejection for a bounded disturbance signal simultaneously. Two examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods     

Adaptive controller design for uncertain fuzzy systems using variable structure control approach

Based on the variable structure control (VSC) theory, we develop an adaptive fuzzy control system design method for uncertain Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy models with norm-bounded uncertainties. We relax the restrictive assumptions that each nominal local system model shares the same input channel and the norm bound of the uncertainty is known, which are usually invoked in the traditional VSC-based fuzzy control design methods. As the local controller we use a VSC law with a switching feedback control term and an adaptation law to account for the norm-bounded uncertainties. In terms of LMIs, we derive a sufficient condition for the existence of linear sliding surfaces guaranteeing the asymptotic stability. We present an LMI characterization of such sliding surfaces. We also give an LMI-based design algorithm, together with a numerical design example.     

The variable structure controller design for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems based on robust observer

The variable structure controller is designed for a class of nonlinear uncertain time-delay system by using robust observer, and incorporating H-infinity control technique, the controller can guarantee the H-infinity performance of sliding mode dynamics and satisfy the reaching condition, which also does not require uncertainties to satisfy matching condition and linear boundary condition. The simulation example is given to illustrate the method.     

Task space decomposition for invariant control of constrained robots

An approach, motivated by analytical mechanics and linear algebra methods, is proposed for task space decomposition. The approach relies on the introduction of a new set of kinematic parameters describing the constrained motion of the end-effector, using the analytical forms of material and program constraints. These parameters define a new basis in the end-effector configuration space. A general inner product characterized by the unity matrix is introduced in this basis and in its dual, which gives rise to the definition of a new set of metrics for the end-effector configuration space. The vectors defined in these bases are considered as pseudo-orthogonal. Returning to the original bases of the configuration space, the symmetric matrices for the vanishing bilinear forms can be defined. In this way, the freedom and constraint subspaces can be defined in a rigorous, analytical way. The physical meaning of the resulting metrics is explained. It is shown that the task space decomposition is invariant, although non-Euclidean metrics are being used. To illustrate the application of the methodology and to explain further the properties of the task space decomposition, two examples are presented. In the first example, the robot end-effector tracks a planar surface. A particular definition of the program constraint gives rise to the introduction of skewed bases, which better explains the inherent features of the approach. In the second example, a task of operating a planar joystick, with constrained orientation of the end-effector, is considered. The relevant bases of the task space are translated in this case and it is possible to explain other features of the method.     

Development of a compliance controller to reduce energy consumption for bipedal robots

In this paper a strategy is proposed to combine active trajectory tracking for bipedal robots with exploiting the natural dynamics by simultaneously controlling the torque and stiffness of a compliant actuator. The goal of this research is to preserve the versatility of actively controlled humanoids, while reducing their energy consumption. The biped Lucy, powered by pleated pneumatic artificial muscles, has been built and controlled and is able to walk up to a speed of 0.15 m/s. The pressures inside the muscles are controlled by a joint trajectory tracking controller to track the desired joint trajectories calculated by a trajectory generator. However, the actuators are set to a fixed stiffness value. In this paper a compliance controller is presented to reduce the energy consumption by controlling the stiffness. A mathematical formulation has been developed to find an optimal stiffness setting depending on the desired trajectory and physical properties of the system and the proposed strategy has been validated on a pendulum structure powered by artificial muscles. This strategy has not been implemented on the real robot because the walking speed of the robot is currently too slow to benefit already from compliance control.

挠性飞行器姿态稳定鲁棒变结构控制

针对三轴稳定卫星的模型参数存在不确定性,设计了一种鲁棒变结构控制器,它能确保系统在一定条件下具有全局渐近稳定性,并且系统在一定条件下能在有限的时间内到达滑动平面,具有鲁棒到达条件,同时控制律实现简单,采用积分型滑动平面,能保证系统在到达滑动平面后具有良好的性能,最后根据卫星参数给出了具体的数值算例,数值仿真结果良好,从数值仿真结果来看控制器在存在较大不确定性情况下（考虑系统转动惯量有5％的不确定性）依然保持良好性能,具有很强的鲁棒稳定性,而且,采用边界层改进控制器后,能有效地解决抖振问题,同时控制器的性能基本保持不变,说明鲁棒变结构控制器的设计是有效的。