On closed-loop vibrational control of underactuated mechanical systems

In this book, we collected recent results on the control of underactuated mechanical systems subject to internal uncertainties and external disturbances. The strategy developed is so universal that it is not restricted to a specific system but a large class of underactuated systems. Several benchmark systems are studied in this book, including detailed literature review, system dynamics derivation, control problem formulation, and simulation verification. The control strategy developed in chapter 4 is able to stabilize all these benchmark systems with satisfactory performance regardless of the underactuated dynamics and various uncertainties. The book is written as a text suitable for graduate students in the advanced course for the control of underactuated systems. It also provides valuable tools for researchers and practicing engineers working on the control of underactuated mechanical systems.

An open loop vibrational control for underactuated mechanical systems with amplitude and frequency modulation is investigated. Since there is no direct external input to an unactuated joint, the dynamic coupling between the actuated and unactuated joint is utilized for controlling the unactuated joint. Feedback linearization has been performed to incorporate fully the known nonlinearities of the underactuated system considered. The actuated joints are firstly positioned to their desired locations, and then periodic oscillatory inputs are applied to the actuated joints to move the remaining unactuated joints to their target positions. The amplitudes and frequencies of the vibrations introduced are determined through the averaging analysis. A systematic way of obtaining an averaged system for the underactuated system via a coordinate transformation is developed. A manipulator in the space where no gravitation exists can be vibrationally controlled in the event of actuator failure. A control design example of a 2R planar manipulator with a free joint with no brake is provided.

Passivity-based control of underactuated mechanical systems with nonlinear friction effects is analyzed. The port-controlled-Hamiltonian equations of the mechanical system are extended by incorporating a novel dynamic friction model, whose internal states are included as generalized coordinates. The extended Hamiltonian model preserves passivity properties of the LuGre model for the velocity-force pair, with no extra conditions on the friction model parameters. Simulation results are presented for an underactuated double pendulum.

ABSTRACTRobust control of under-actuated mechanical systems (UMSs) with model uncertainty is still a challenging problem. For UMSs, the model parametric uncertainties make it difficult to precisely calculate the isolated equilibrium point corresponding to a fixed input. Without an accurate destination state, many set-point control methods cannot eliminate the positioning errors. An improved sliding mode control (ISMC) method is proposed to solve the robust control problem for a class of UMSs with model uncertainty and input disturbance. A balance variable is introduced in the sliding surface design to compensate for the disturbance caused by the inaccurate destination state, and the ISMC method is proposed to make the system state reach the sliding surface in finite time. Linear matrix inequality approach and particle swarm optimisation algorithm are applied to design the sliding mode surface parameters. The simulation results on an UMS are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

In this paper we discuss the partial feedback linearization control of underactuated mechanical systems. We consider an n degree of freedom system having m actuated, or active, degrees of freedom and l=n-m unactuated, or passive, degrees of freedom. It is known that the portion of the dynamics corresponding to the active degrees of freedom may be linearized by nonlinear feedback. In this paper we show, alternatively, that the portion of the dynamics corresponding to the passive degrees of freedom may be linearized by nonlinear feedback under a condition that we call strong inertial coupling. We derive and analyze the resulting zero dynamics which are crucial to an understanding of the response of the overall system. Simulation results are presented showing the performance of two link underactuated robots under partial feedback linearization control. >

This work investigates the energy shaping control of a class of underactuated mechanical systems with first‐order actuator dynamics and subject to both matched and unmatched constant additive disturbances. To this end, a new nonlinear control law which includes two independent integral actions is presented. The controller design is outlined for systems with first‐order actuator dynamics, and also for systems with direct actuation. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated with numerical simulations on an inertia wheel pendulum and on a ball‐on‐beam system, both actuated by electric DC motors and subject to constant disturbances.

Since its introduction in the late 1980s, passivity-based control (PBC) has proven to be successful in controlling many robotic systems. The connection between stability and passivity theory is the most attractive feature of controllers designed using this methodology. However, the need to solve nonlinear partial differential equations (PDE) in closed-form has been a major challenge in applying PBC to general robotic systems. Here, we introduce a systematic approach to design controllers for a class of underactuated mechanical systems based on interconnection and damping assignment. Exploiting the universal approximation capability of neural networks, we formulate a data-driven optimisation problem that discovers solutions to the required PDEs automatically. Our approach does not destroy the passivity structure, preserving the inherent stability properties. We demonstrate the efficacy of our framework on two benchmark problems: the inertia wheel pendulum and the ball and beam system.

Control of underactuated mechanical systems via energy shaping is a well-established, robust design technique. Unfortunately, its application is often stymied by the need to solve partial differential equations (PDEs). In this technical note a new, fully constructive, procedure to shape the energy for a class of mechanical systems that obviates the solution of PDEs is proposed. The control law consists of a first stage of partial feedback linearization followed by a simple proportional plus integral controller acting on two new passive outputs. The class of systems for which the procedure is applicable is identified imposing some (directly verifiable) conditions on the systems inertia matrix and its potential energy function. It is shown that these conditions are satisfied by three benchmark examples.

A non-linear Euler-Lagrange (EL) controller is proposed for underactuated mechanical Euler-Lagrange systems. The rationale is that mimicking the process structure in the controller will lead to improved performance. The tuning of the controller can be rather intuitive as it can be seen as an auxiliary mechanical system that is connected to the process, also called the main system. The tuning methodology used here finds its roots in the vibration absorber technology: transfer the energy from the main to the auxiliary system and dissipate the energy in the additional structure. Energy, in the form of the Hamiltonian, is used to examine stability of the compound system using Lyapunov’s direct method. To evaluate the performance of the controller, the Hamiltonian of the main system is used. A planar manipulator with two and three degrees-of-freedom (DOF) shows the effectivity of the proposed tuning method

This paper introduces an adaptive robust control approach tailored for underactuated mechanical systems encountering matched and mismatched uncertainty, employing a constraint-following methodology. The control strategy unfolds in two phases: initially, a nominal control scheme is devised neglecting uncertainty and deviations in initial conditions from constraints. Subsequently, uncertainty is categorized into matched and mismatched components, ensuring that mismatched uncertainties remain unobservable. Leveraging the structural characteristics of the uncertainty bound, a novel segmented adaptive law is proposed and seamlessly integrated into the adaptive robust control framework. By employing the Lyapunov minimax approach, the method ensures uniform boundedness and uniform ultimate boundedness simultaneously, thereby ensuring approximate adherence to constraints for underactuated mechanical systems facing both matched and mismatched uncertainties alongside initial condition deviations.

Underactuated mechanical systems are frequently encountered in several industrial and real-world applications such as robotic manipulators with elastic components, aerospace vehicles, marine vessels, and overhead container cranes. The design of accurate controllers for this kind of mechanical system can become very challenging, especially if a high level of uncertainty is involved. In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy inference system is combined with a sliding mode controller in order to enhance the control performance of uncertain underactuated mechanical systems. The proposed scheme can deal with a large class of multiple-input–multiple-output underactuated systems subject to parameter uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics, and external disturbances. The convergence properties of the resulting intelligent controller are proved by means of a Lyapunov-like stability analysis. Experimental results obtained with an overhead container crane demonstrate not only the feasibility of the proposed scheme, but also its improved efficacy for both stabilization and trajectory tracking problems.

In this paper we use a nonholonomic affine connection formulation to study an optimal control problem for a class of nonholonomic, under-actuated mechanical systems. The class of nonholonomic systems we study in this paper includes, in particular, wheeled-type vehicles, which are important for many robotic locomotion systems. We illustrate our ideas by considering a simple example on a three-dimensional manifold

Sliding mode control has been shown to be a robust and effective control approach for stabilization of nonlinear systems. However the dynamic performance of the controller is a complex function of the system parameters, which is often uncertain or partially known. This paper presents an adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control for a class of underactuated nonlinear mechanical systems. An adaptive fuzzy system is used to approximate the uncertain parts of the underactuated system. The adaptive law is designed based on the Lyapunov method. The proof for the stability and the convergence of the system is presented. Robust performance of the adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control is illustrated using a gantry crane system. Simulation results demonstrate that the system output can track the reference signal in the presence of modelling uncertainties, external disturbances and parameter variation.

Distributed Control of Heterogeneous Underactuated Mechanical Systems

Self-excited periodic motion in underactuated mechanical systems using two-fuzzy inference system