A Multiple Models Approach for Adaptation and Learning in Mobile Robots Control

The paper proposes a multiple models based control methodology for the solution of the tracking problem for mobile robots. The proposed method utilizes multiple models of the robot for its identification in an adaptive and learning control framework. Radial Basis Function Networks (RBFNs) are considered for the multiple models in order to exploit the non-linear approximation capabilities of the nets for modeling the kinematic behaviour of the vehicle and for reducing unmodelled tracking errors contributions. The training of the nets and the control performance analysis have been done in a real experimental setup. The experimental results are satisfactory in terms of tracking errors and computational efforts and show the improvement in the tracking performance when the proposed methodology is used for tracking tasks in dynamical uncertain environments.     

Adaptive control for robot manipulators using multiple parameter models

In this paper, we propose multiple parameter models based adaptive switching control system for robot manipulators. We first uniformly distribute the parameter set into a finite number of smaller compact subsets. Then, distributed candidate controllers are designed for each of these smaller compact subsets. Using Lyapunov inequality, a candidate controller is identified from the finite set of distributed candidate controllers that best estimates the plant at each instant of time. The design reduced the observer-controller gains by reducing modeling errors and uncertainties via identifying an appropriate control/model via choosing largest guaranteed decrease in the value of the Lyapunov function energy function. Compared with CE based CAC design, the proposed design requires smaller observer-controller gains to ensure stability and tracking performance in the presence of large-scale modeling errors and disturbance uncertainties. In contrast with existing adaptive method, multiple model based distributed hybrid design can be used to reduce the energy consumption of the industrial robotic manipulator for large scale industrial automation by reducing actuator input energy. Finally, the proposed hybrid adaptive control design is experimentally tested on a 3-DOF Phantom^TM robot manipulator to demonstrate the theoretical development for real-time applications.

     

Design and Implementation of an Inverse Dynamics Controller for Uncertain Nonholonomic Robotic Systems

This paper addresses the trajectory tracking control problem of nonholonomic robotic systems in the presence of modeling uncertainties. A tracking controller is proposed such that it combines the inverse dynamics control technique and an adaptive robust PID control strategy to preserve robustness to both parametric and nonparametric uncertainties. A SPR-Lypunov stability analysis demonstrates that tracking errors are uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB) and exponentially converge to a small ball containing the origin. The proposed inverse dynamics tracking controller is successfully applied to a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot (WMR) and experimental results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Adaptive observer-based trajectory tracking control of nonholonomic mobile robots

In this paper, an adaptive observer-based trajectory tracking problem is solved for nonholonomic mobile robots with uncertainties. An adaptive observer is first developed to estimate the unmeasured velocities of a mobile robot with model uncertainties. Using the designed observer and the backstepping technique, a trajectory tracking controller is designed to generate the torque as an input. Using Lyapunov stability analysis, we prove that the closed-loop system is asymptotically stable with respect to the estimation errors and tracking errors. Finally, the simulation results are presented to validate the performance and robustness of the proposed control system against uncertainties.     

On the Robust Nonlinear Motion Position and Force Control of Flexible Joints Robot Manipulators

The design of a robust nonlinear position and force controller for a flexible joints robot manipulator interacting with a rigid environment is presented. The controller is designed using the concept of feedback linearization, sliding mode techniques, and LQE estimation methodologies. It is shown that the nonlinear robot manipulator model is feedback linearizable. A robust performance of the proposed control approach is achieved by accounting for the system parameters uncertainties in the derivation of the nonlinear control law. An upper bound of the error introduced by parametric uncertainties in the system is computed. Then, the feedback linearizing control law is modified by adding a switching action to compensate the errors and to guarantee the achievement of the desired tracking performance. The relationship between the minimum achievable boundary layer thickness and the parametric uncertainties is derived. The proposed controller is tested using an experimental flexible joints robot manipulator, and the results demonstrate its potential benefits in reducing the number of sensors required and the complexity of the design. This is achieved by eliminating the need for nonlinear observers. A robust performance is obtained with minimum control effort by taking into account the effect of system parameter uncertainties and measurement noise.     

Adaptive robust fuzzy control for path tracking of a wheeled mobile robot

This paper proposes an adaptive robust fuzzy control scheme for path tracking of a wheeled mobile robot with uncertainties. The robot dynamics including the actuator dynamics is considered in this work. The presented controller is composed of a fuzzy basis function network (FBFN) to approximate an unknown nonlinear function of the robot complete dynamics, an adaptive robust input to overcome the uncertainties, and a stabilizing control input. The stability and the convergence of the tracking errors are guaranteed using the Lyapunov stability theory. When the controller is designed, the different parameters for two actuator models in the dynamic equation are taken into account. The proposed control scheme does not require the accurate parameter values for the actuator parameters as well as the robot parameters. The validity and robustness of the proposed control scheme are demonstrated through computer simulations. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

具有H_∞跟踪性能的机器人自适应PID控制

针对非线性不确定机器人系统的轨迹跟踪控制问题,提出一种鲁棒自适应PID控制算法.该控制器由主控制器和监督控制器组成.主控制器以常规PID控制为基础,基于滑模控制思想设计PID参数的自适应律,根据误差实时修正PID参数.基于Lyapunov函数设计的监督控制器补偿自适应PID控制器与理想控制器之间的差异,使系统具有设定的H_∞的跟踪性能.最后,两关节机器人的仿真实验结果表明了算法的有效性.

Abstract：

A robust adaptive PID control algorithm is proposed for trajectory tracking of robot manipulators with nonlinear uncertainties.The controller is composed of a main controller and a supervisory controller.The main controller is designed based on the traditional PID controller.The parameters of the PID controller are updated online according to the system running errors with the adaptation law based on the sliding mode control.The supervisory controller is proposed to compensate the error between the adaptive PID controller and the ideal controller in the sense of the Lyapunov function with the specified H_∞ tracking performance.Finally, the simulation results based on a two-joint robot manipulator show the effectiveness of the presented controller.     

A robust adaptive fuzzy variable structure tracking control for the wheeled mobile robot: Simulation and experimental results

In this paper an adaptive fuzzy variable structure control (kinematic control) integrated with a proportional plus derivative control (dynamic control) is proposed as a robust solution to the trajectory tracking control problem for a differential wheeled mobile robot. The variable structure controller, based on the sliding mode theory, is a well known, proven control method, fit to deal with uncertainties and disturbances (e.g., structural and parameter uncertainties, external disturbances and operating limitations). To minimize the problems found in practical implementations of the classical variable structure controllers, an adaptive fuzzy logic controller replaces the discontinuous portion of the control signals (avoiding the chattering), causing the loss of invariance, but still ensuring the robustness to uncertainties and disturbances without having any a priori knowledge of their boundaries. Moreover, the adaptive fuzzy logic controller is a feasible tool to approximate any real continuous nonlinear system to arbitrary accuracy, and has a simple structure by using triangular membership functions, a low number of rules that must be evaluated, resulting in a lower computational load for execution, making it feasible for real time implementation. Stability analysis and the convergence of tracking errors as well as the adaptation laws are guaranteed with basis on the Lyapunov theory. Simulation and experimental results are explored to show the verification and validation of the proposed control strategy.     

Dynamic structure adaptive neural fuzzy control for MIMO uncertain nonlinear systems

This paper proposes a novel dynamic structure neural fuzzy network (DSNFN) to address the adaptive tracking problems of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) uncertain nonlinear systems. The proposed control scheme uses a four-layer neural fuzzy network (NFN) to estimate system uncertainties online. The main feature of this DSNFN is that it can either increase or decrease the number of fuzzy rules over time based on tracking errors. Projection-type adaptation laws for the network parameters are derived from the Lyapunov synthesis approach to ensure network convergence and stable control. A hybrid control scheme that combines the sliding-mode control and the adaptive bound estimation control with different weights improves system performance by suppressing the influence of external disturbances and approximation errors. As the employment of the DSNFN, high-quality tracking performance could be achieved in the system. Furthermore, the trained network avoids the problems of overfitting and underfitting. Simulations performed on a two-link robot manipulator demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.     

Robust adaptive control for mobile manipulators

This paper addresses the trajectory tracking control of a nonholonomic wheeled mobile manipulator with parameter uncertainties and disturbances. The proposed algorithm adopts a robust adaptive control strategy where parametric uncertainties are compensated by adaptive update techniques and the disturbances are suppressed. A kinematic controller is first designed to make the robot follow a desired end-effector and platform trajectories in task space coordinates simultaneously. Then, an adaptive control scheme is proposed, which ensures that the trajectories are accurately tracked even in the presence of external disturbances and uncertainties. The system stability and the convergence of tracking errors to zero are rigorously proven using Lyapunov theory. Simulations results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed robust adaptive control law in comparison with a sliding mode controller.     

Trajectory tracking control of mobile robots without using longitudinal velocity measurements

We propose a new robust trajectory tracking control scheme for wheeled mobile robots without longitudinal velocity measurements. In the proposed controller, a velocity observer is used to estimate the longitudinal velocity of a wheeled mobile robot. A wheeled mobile robot model, including motor dynamics, is used to develop the controller. The developed controller has the following useful properties. (1) The developed controller does not require any accurate knowledge of the robot parameters or the motor parameters. Even if there are uncertainties in the robot dynamics, including the motor properties, it is certain that tracking errors ultimately become uniformly bounded in a closed-loop system using the developed controller. (2) It is shown theoretically that the ultimate norms of tracking errors can easily be reduced by setting only one design parameter.     

Adaptive inverse dynamics control of robots with uncertain kinematics and dynamics

It has been about two decades since the first globally convergent adaptive tracking controller was derived for robots with dynamic uncertainties. However, not until recently has the problem of concurrent adaptation to both the kinematic and dynamic uncertainties found its solution. This adaptive controller belongs to passivity-based control. Though passivity-based controllers have many attractive properties, in general, they are not able to guarantee the uniform performance of the robot over the entire workspace. Even in the ideal case of perfect knowledge of the manipulator parameters, the closed-loop system remains nonlinear and coupled. Thus the closed-loop tracking performance is difficult to quantify, while the inverse dynamics controllers can overcome these deficiencies. Therefore, in this work, we will develop a new adaptive Jacobian tracking controller based on the inverse manipulator dynamics. Using the Lyapunov approach, we have proved that the end-effector motion tracking errors converge asymptotically to zero. Simulation results are presented to show the performance of the proposed controller.     

Robust face tracking control of a mobile robot using self‐tuning Kalman filter and echo state network

This paper presents a novel design of face tracking algorithm and visual state estimation for a mobile robot face tracking interaction control system. The advantage of this design is that it can track a user's face under several external uncertainties and estimate the system state without the knowledge about target's 3D motion‐model information. This feature is helpful for the development of a real‐time visual tracking control system. In order to overcome the change in skin color due to light variation, a real‐time face tracking algorithm is proposed based on an adaptive skin color search method. Moreover, in order to increase the robustness against colored observation noise, a new visual state estimator is designed by combining a Kalman filter with an echo state network‐based self‐tuning algorithm. The performance of this estimator design has been evaluated using computer simulation. Several experiments on a mobile robot validate the proposed control system. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

A new smooth robust control design for uncertain nonlinear systems with non-vanishing disturbances

In this paper, we consider the control problem for a general class of nonlinear system subjected to uncertain dynamics and non-varnishing disturbances. A smooth nonlinear control algorithm is presented to tackle these uncertainties and disturbances. The proposed control design employs the integral of a nonlinear sigmoid function to compensate the uncertain dynamics, and achieve a uniformly semi-global practical asymptotic stable tracking control of the system outputs. A novel Lyapunov-based stability analysis is employed to prove the convergence of the tracking errors and the stability of the closed-loop system. Numerical simulation results on a two-link robot manipulator are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed control algorithm comparing with the layer-boundary sliding mode controller and the robust of integration of sign of error control design. Furthermore, real-time experiment results for the attitude control of a quadrotor helicopter are also included to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Robust fuzzy tracking control for robotic manipulators

In this paper, a stable adaptive fuzzy-based tracking control is developed for robot systems with parameter uncertainties and external disturbance. First, a fuzzy logic system is introduced to approximate the unknown robotic dynamics by using adaptive algorithm. Next, the effect of system uncertainties and external disturbance is removed by employing an integral sliding mode control algorithm. Consequently, a hybrid fuzzy adaptive robust controller is developed such that the resulting closed-loop robot system is stable and the trajectory tracking performance is guaranteed. The proposed controller is appropriate for the robust tracking of robotic systems with system uncertainties. The validity of the control scheme is shown by computer simulation of a two-link robotic manipulator.     

Formation control of mobile robots with obstacle avoidance based on GOACM using onboard sensors

This paper deals with the problem of formation control for nonholonomic mobile robots under a cluttered environment. When the obstacles are not detected, the follower robot calculates its waypoint to track, based on the leader robot’s state. The proposed geometric obstacle avoidance control method (GOACM) guarantees that the robot avoids the static and dynamic obstacles using onboard sensors. Due to the difficulty for the robot to simultaneously get overall safe boundary of an obstacle in practice, a safe line, which is perpendicular to the obstacle surface, is used instead of the safe boundary. Since GOACM is executed to find a safe waypoint for the robot, GOACM can effectively cooperate with the formation control method. Moreover, the adaptive controllers guarantee that the trajectory and velocity tracking errors converge to zero with the consideration of the parametric uncertainties of both kinematic and dynamic models. Simulation and experiment results present that the robots effectively form and maintain formation avoiding the obstacles.     

Redundancy Control of a Humanoid Head for Foveation and Three-Dimensional Object Tracking: A Virtual Mechanism Approach

This paper presents a novel approach for object tracking with a humanoid robot head. The proposed approach is based on the concept of a virtual mechanism, where the real head is enhanced with a virtual link that connects the eye with a point in three-dimensional space. We tested our implementation on a humanoid head with 7 d.o.f. and two rigidly connected cameras in each eye (wide-angle and telescopic). The experimental results show that the proposed control algorithm can be used to maintain the view of an observed object in the foveal (telescopic) image using information from the peripheral view. Unlike other methods proposed in the literature, our approach indicates how to exploit the redundancy of the robot head. The proposed technique is systematic and can be easily implemented on different types of active humanoid heads. The results show good tracking performance regardless of the distance between the object and the head. Moreover, the uncertainties in the kinematic model of the head do not affect the performance of the system.     

显式抑制测量误差的改进滑模控制

反馈控制系统中模型不确定性和测量误差的同时出现, 给高精度控制器的设计带来挑战. 经典滑模控制能抵抗一定程度的模型不确定性和输入干扰, 但引入的高增益使得其性能对测量噪声极为敏感, 也容易引起系统强烈抖振. 为此, 本文针对一种典型的角度和角速率测量分别包含高频和低频测量误差条件, 提出了一种改进的基于趋近律的角度跟踪控制方案. 本方案采用低通滤波器来应对高频测量噪声, 同时采用一种新颖的基于模型的测量误差估计器, 来补偿低频测量漂移. 采用Quanser Aero平台进行两自由度角轨迹跟踪控制仿真和实验验证, 并与自抗扰控制等几种典型鲁棒控制方案进行了全面对比, 证实了本文方案性能上的优越性和调参的便捷性.     

基于观测器的机械手神经网络自适应控制

提出了一种基于观测器的机械手神经网络自适应轨迹跟随控制器设计方法,这里机 械手的动力学非线性假设是未知的,并且假设机械手仅有关节角位置测量.文中采用一个线 性观测器重构机械手的关节角速度,用神经网络逼近修正的机械手动力学非线性,改进系统 的跟随性能.基于观测器的神经网络自适应控制器能够保证机械手角跟随误差和观测误差的 一致终结有界性以及神经网络权值的有界性,最后给出了机械手神经网络自适应控制器-观 测器设计的主要理论结果,并通过数字仿真验证了所提方法的性能.     

Robust adaptive motion/force tracking control design for uncertain constrained robot manipulators

In the presence of uncertain constraint and robot model, an adaptive controller with robust motion/force tracking performance for constrained robot manipulators is proposed. First, robust motion and force tracking is considered, where a performance criterion containing disturbance and estimated parameter attenuations is presented. Then the proposed controller utilizes an adaptive scheme and an auxiliary control law to deal with the uncertain environmental constraint, disturbances, and robotic modeling uncertainties. After solving a simple linear matrix inequality for gain conditions, the effect from disturbance and estimated parameter errors to motion/force errors is attenuated to an arbitrary prescribed level. Moreover, if the disturbance and estimated parameter errors are square-integrable, then an asymptotic motion tracking is achieved while the force error is as small as the inversion of control gain. Finally, numerical simulation results for a constrained planar robot illustrate the expected performance.