Adaptive output feedback tracking control of robot manipulators using position measurements only

In this paper, a new adaptive neuro controller for trajectory tracking is developed for robot manipulators without velocity measurements, taking into account the actuator constraints. The controller is based on structural knowledge of the dynamics of the robot and measurements of joint positions only. The system uncertainty, which may include payload variation, unknown nonlinearities and torque disturbances is estimated by a Chebyshev neural network (CNN). The adaptive controller represents an amalgamation of a filtering technique to generate pseudo filtered tracking error signals (for the elimination of velocity measurements) and the theory of function approximation using CNN. The proposed controller ensures the local asymptotic stability and the convergence of the position error to zero. The proposed controller is robust not only to structured uncertainty such as payload variation but also to unstructured one such as disturbances. Moreover the computational complexity of the proposed controller is reduced as compared to the multilayered neural network controller. The validity of the control scheme is shown by simulation results of a two-link robot manipulator. Simulation results are also provided to compare the proposed controller with a controller where velocity is estimated by finite difference methods using position measurements only.