Dynamic two arm hybrid position/force control

A useful two arm robot system will not only need to cooperatively manipulate the same object, but also need the ability for external force control. As an example, assume two robots are building a space station, which requires them to connect a structure to a partially built space station. This implies that they need to cooperatively move the object to the desired position, and then apply a force to connect it. Therefore, two arm hybrid position/force control is necessary. To accomplish this task quickly and accurately the dynamics of arm 1, arm 2, and the object must be taken into account. The external and internal forces must be clearly defined to be used in the servo control loop. There are several ways to choose the internal force: zero internal force, arbitrary force distribution, minimizing object strain energy, and minimizing the total torque. An example is shown to illustrate the trade-offs. A controller is presented which incorporates the dynamics of each arm, the dynamics of the object, and servos on the internal and external force. Experimental results show that servoing on the internal force will reduce the force error significantly.     

Fuzzy-neuro position/force control for robotic manipulators with uncertainties

The performance of a controller for robot force tracking is affected by the uncertainties in both the robot dynamic model and the environmental stiffness. This paper aims to improve the controller’s robustness by applying the neural network to compensate for the uncertainties of the robot model at the input trajectory level rather than at the joint torque level. A self-adaptive fuzzy controller is introduced for robotic manipulator position/force control. Simulation results based on a two-degrees of freedom robot show that highly robust position/force tracking can be achieved, despite the existence of large uncertainties in the robot model.     

Neural network-based position synchronised internal force control scheme for cooperative manipulator system

More complex problems of simultaneous position and internal force control occur with cooperative manipulator systems than that of a single one. In the presence of unwanted parametric and modelling uncertainties as well as external disturbances, a decentralised position synchronised force control scheme is proposed. With a feedforward neural network estimating engine, a precise model of the system dynamics is not required. Unlike conventional cooperative or synchronised controllers, virtual position and virtual synchronisation errors are introduced for internal force tracking control and task space position synchronisation. Meanwhile joint space synchronisation and force measurement are unnecessary. Together with simulation studies and analysis, the position and the internal force errors are shown to asymptotically converge to zero. Moreover, the controller exhibits different characteristics with selected synchronisation factors. Under certain settings, it can deal with temporary cooperation by an intelligent retreat mechanism, where less internal force would occur and rigid collision can be avoided. Using a Lyapunov stability approach, the controller is proven to be robust in face of the aforementioned uncertainties.     

Adaptive synchronised tracking control for multiple robotic manipulators with uncertain kinematics and dynamics

In this study, a new adaptive synchronised tracking control approach is developed for the operation of multiple robotic manipulators in the presence of uncertain kinematics and dynamics. In terms of the system synchronisation and adaptive control, the proposed approach can stabilise position tracking of each robotic manipulator while coordinating its motion with the other robotic manipulators. On the other hand, the developed approach can cope with kinematic and dynamic uncertainties. The corresponding stability analysis is presented to lay a foundation for theoretical understanding of the underlying issues as well as an assurance for safely operating real systems. Illustrative examples are bench tested to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In addition, to face the challenging issues, this study provides an exemplary showcase with effectively to integrate several cross boundary theoretical results to formulate an interdisciplinary solution.     

On the invariance of the hybrid position/force control

Recently, the noninvariance nature of the Raibert and Craig hybrid control scheme, based on the work of Mason and others, has been pointed out. In fact, on the basis of the screw theory, Lipkin and Duffy demonstrated that the selection of the position and force controlled degrees of freedom in the Raibert and Craig scheme, may give wrong results if a translation or change in unit length of the coordinate frame is performed. A general theoretical solution to this problem, called kinestatic filtering, has been given by Lipkin and Duffy. In this paper, the two approaches are summarized and discussed. First, the conditions in which the Mason filtering technique fails are determined and, second, the situations where the Lipkin and Duffy approach cannot be applied owing to degeneracy of the twist and wrench spaces, are reported. As a consequence of this analysis, a new invariant kinestatic filtering method is proposed. The method here presented is based on the original Mason approach and requires the definition of a task-dependent filter based on the knowledge of the position of the compliant frame. Examples are presented and discussed.     

基于降阶位置/力模型的机器人神经网络控制

双足机器人的双脚支撑期是实现其步行运动的重要过程,然而耦合的位置/力控制难以保证其稳定平滑运动.本文提出了一种基于降阶位置/力模型的机器人控制策略,整合了位置控制子空间模型和力控制子空间模型,通过模型降阶减小了控制器设计的复杂度,并采用神经网络自适应控制方法综合多控制目标,实现了双足机器人的平滑稳定控制并有效地抑制了系统外扰和参数不确定性的影响.最后,仿真算法验证了该控制方法和模型的有效性.     

考虑起止加速度的不确定机械手鲁棒控制

在机械手的点到点运动中,起始加速度和终止加速度过大都会导致较大的瞬时控制力矩,易对机械手造成损伤同时使系统不稳定。针对这个问题并考虑机械手系统的非参数不确定性,提出了合理的解决方案。首先选择了一种零起始和零终止加速度的期望轨迹曲线,基于跟踪误差设计滑模函数,同时设计PI控制器和反演控制器,最后证明了闭环系统的稳定性。利用二自由度机械手模型进行仿真实验,仿真结果证明了该方法的正确性和有效性。     

Adaptive hybrid force/position control of robot manipulators using an adaptive force estimator in the presence of parametric uncertainty

This study is devoted to sensorless adaptive force/position control of robot manipulators using a position-based adaptive force estimator (AFE) and a force-based adaptive environment compliance estimator. Unlike the other sensorless method in force control that uses disturbance observer and needs an accurate model of the manipulator, in this method, the unknown parameters of the robot can be estimated along with the force control. Even more, the environment compliance can be estimated simultaneously to achieve tracking force control. In fact, this study deals with three challenging problems: No force sensor is used, environment stiffness is unknown, and some parametric uncertainties exist in the robot model. A theorem offers control laws and updating laws for two control loops. In the inner loop, AFE estimates the exerted force, and then, the force control law in the outer loop modifies the desired trajectory of the manipulator for the adaptive tracking loop. Besides, an updating law updates the estimated compliance to provide an accurate tracking force control. Some experimental results of a PHANToM Premium robot are provided to validate the proposed scheme. In addition, some simulations are presented that verify the performance of the controller for different situations in interaction.     

Stability and switching control design issues for a class of discrete time hybrid systems

For the class of systems considered, necessary and sufficient stabilizability conditions are unknown. However, by considering the same systems with unknown but bounded exogenous disturbances, we give finitely computable conditions, sufficient for stabilizability without disturbances, yet necessary for stabilizability with disturbances.     

Automated robotic grinding by low-powered manipulator

A new robotic grinding process has been developed for a low-powered robot system using a spring balancer as a suspension system. To manipulate a robot-arm in the vertical plane, a large actuator torque is required due to the tool weight and enormous gravity effect. But the actuators of the robot system always exhibit a limited torque capacity. This paper presents a cheap and available system for precise grinding tasks by a low-powered robot system using a suspension system. For grinding operations, to achieve position and force-tracking simultaneously, this paper presents an algorithm of the hybrid position/force-tracking scheme with respect to the dynamic behavior of a spring balancer. Material Removal Rate (MRR) is developed for materials SS400 and SUS304. Simulations and experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system.     

Coordination control for bilateral teleoperation with kinematics and dynamics uncertainties

The coordination control design problem for the master–slave system is addressed in this paper. In order to meet the actual work condition, we assume that the master works in a laboratory, the slave works in remote side where the environment is very complex, and the master and slave are in different sizes. Three problems are needed to be solved: system dynamics uncertainties, system kinematics uncertainties, and the asymmetric time-varying delays. The new task-space based Proporation plus damping (P+d) controller and adaptive fuzzy P+d controller are proposed for the master and the slave, respectively. By choosing proper Lyapunov functions, we have proved that the synchronization errors converge to zero asymptotically with the new controllers. The delay-dependent stability criterion is derived. With the given parameters, the proposed allowable maximal transmission delay can be computed. Finally, the simulations are performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Robust computationally efficient control of cooperative closed-chain manipulators with uncertain dynamics

This article presents a decentralized control scheme for the complex problem of simultaneous position and internal force control in cooperative multiple manipulator systems. The proposed controller is composed of a sliding mode control term and a force robustifying term to simultaneously control the payload's position/orientation as well as the internal forces induced in the system. This is accomplished independently of the manipulators dynamics. Unlike most controllers that do not require prior knowledge of the manipulators dynamics, the suggested controller does not use fuzzy logic inferencing and is computationally inexpensive. Using a Lyapunov stability approach, the controller is proven to be robust in the face of varying system's dynamics. The payload's position/orientation and the internal force errors are also shown to asymptotically converge to zero under such conditions.     

Model-independent position domain sliding mode control for contour tracking of robotic manipulator

In this paper, a new position domain feedback type sliding mode control (PDC-SMC) law is proposed for contour tracking control of multi-DOF (degree of freedom) nonlinear robotic manipulators focusing on the improvement of contour tracking performances. One feature of the proposed control law is its model-independent control scheme that can avoid calculation of the feedforward part in a standard SMC. The new control law takes the advantages of the high contour tracking performance of PD type feedback position domain control (PDC) and the robustness of SMC. Stability analysis is performed using the Lyapunov stability theory, and simulation studies are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the developed PDC-SMC control system. In addition, the effects of control parameters of the SMC on system performances are studied.     

Force/position tracking for a robotic manipulator in compliant contact with a surface using neuro-adaptive control

The problem of force/position tracking for a robotic manipulator in compliant contact with a surface under non-parametric uncertainties is considered. In particular, structural uncertainties are assumed to characterize the compliance and surface friction models, as well as the robot dynamic model. A novel neuro-adaptive controller is proposed, that exploits the approximation capabilities of the linear in the weights neural networks, guaranteeing the uniform ultimate boundedness of force and position error with respect to arbitrarily small sets, plus the boundedness of all signals in the closed loop. Simulations highlight the approach.     

基于Matlab机械臂力控系统仿真研究

以位置控制为主的机械臂控制方法已不能满足某些复杂环境（装配、抛光、去毛刺）的应用要求,控制机械臂与环境间的接触力已成为机器人学研究的一个热点。提出一种在Matlab/SimMechanics环境下平面二自由度机械臂力控制的仿真研究方法。在平面中模拟机械臂与环境的接触面,设计振荡抑制控制器,实现机械臂与环境间接触力的控制,以及机械臂与刚性环境碰撞接触过程中冲击振荡阶段的振荡抑制,生成机械臂期望的运动轨迹。仿真结果表明,该方法可实现特定作业下机械臂与环境间接触力的控制。     

Symmetry position/force hybrid control for cooperative object transportation using multiple humanoid robots

A symmetry position/force hybrid control framework for cooperative object transportation tasks with multiple humanoid robots is proposed in this paper. In a leader-follower type cooperation, follower robots plan their biped gaits based on the forces generated at their hands after a leader robot moves. Therefore, if the leader robot moves fast (rapidly pulls or pushes the carried object), some of the follower humanoid robots may lose their balance and fall down. The symmetry type cooperation discussed in this paper solves this problem because it enables all humanoid robots to move synchronously. The proposed framework is verified by dynamic simulations.     

具有时滞的柔性关节多机械臂协同自适应位置/力控制

由于关节机械臂长期运行后,齿轮间隙扩大产生的时间滞后将使得系统跟踪性能降低.针对此问题,本文提出了一种自适应位置/力控制策略来保证闭环系统稳定性以及位置/力跟踪性能.首先,对多机械臂和物体系统进行任务空间动力学建模.随后,利用Pade理论将时间滞后近似为二阶有理分式.同时,利用神经网络自适应算法克服模型建模误差对系统稳定性的影响,利用同时包含位置误差和力误差的线性滑模项,设计位置/力控制器.通过李雅普诺夫稳定性理论,证明控制策略能实现位置误差和内力误差的渐近收敛.最后,仿真验证证明所设计控制策略的有效性.     

飞行机械臂系统的接触力控制

针对飞行机械臂系统的接触力控制问题,本文首先从理论上证明了闭环无人机系统具有与弹簧-质量-阻尼系统一致的动态特性.基于飞行机械臂接触状态下力的分析,得到了无人机水平前向接触力与系统重力和俯仰角之间的动态关系,进而分析出接触力控制可以不使用力传感器来实现.根据阻抗控制思想,提出了飞行机械臂系统接触力控制方法,即通过同时控制位置偏差和对应姿态角度来实现接触力的控制.给出了单自由度飞行机械臂系统动力学模型,对应分析出系统的稳定性.开发了基于四旋翼飞行器的单自由度飞行机械臂系统,并进行了实际的飞行实验,验证了所提出接触力控制方法的有效性,同时也证实了所开发系统的可靠性.     

A hybrid receding-horizon control scheme for nonlinear systems

A hybrid receding-horizon control scheme for nonlinear discrete-time systems is proposed. Whereas a set of optimal feedback control functions is defined at the continuous level, a discrete-event controller chooses the best control action, depending on the current conditions of a plant and on possible external events. Such a two-level scheme is embedded in the structure of abstract hybrid systems, thus making it possible to prove a new asymptotic stability result for the hybrid receding-horizon control approach.     

混杂系统的预测控制

因混杂系统预测控制（PC-HS）具有在线处理控制量和状态量的约束等优点,而成为学术界研究的一个热点．系统地论述了PC-HS的发展和研究现状,在介绍混杂系统的背景和模型的基础上,重点讨论了PC-HS的各种算法、性能等几个前沿问题,并对PC-HS目前研究中存在的问题进行了分析,对未来的一些研究方向进行了展望．