Discrete-time direct adaptive control for robotic systems based on model-free and if–then rules operation

An adaptive controller for a class of nonlinear discrete-time systems is proposed for robotic systems under the assumption that the parameters and structure of system dynamics are all unknown. This controller is designed with the concept of model-free adaptive control requiring only the input–output of the unknown plant. The robotic system has been generalized to be a nonaffine discrete-time system under reasonable assumptions. The adaptive scheme called fuzzy rules emulated network (FREN) is implemented as a direct controller. The IF–THEN rules for FREN have been defined by the knowledge according to the relation between input and output of the robotic system without any compensator for the unknown mathematical model or nonlinearities. The underlying physical specifications of robotic system such as the operating range, maximum joint velocity, and so on have been considered to initialize the membership functions and adjustable parameters of FREN. The adaptation scheme is developed according to convergence analysis established for both adjustable parameters and the tracking error. The performance of the proposed controller is validated by the experimental system with a 7-degrees-of-freedom robotic arm operated in velocity-mode control.