Transient Trajectory Improvement of Wafer Transfer Robot Using Iterative Learning Control with Command Conversion Filter

A novel design strategy for iterative learning and repetitive controllers of systems with a high modal density: Theoretical background

While iterative learning control (ILC) and repetitive control (RC) have much ground in common, they fundamentally differ in the initial conditions at each repetition. This difference has lead to distinct analysis techniques, hereby clouding the interrelations between both control strategies. To facilitate the transfer of results, this paper presents a unified approach to ILC and RC. Both control problems are formulated in the trial domain using so-called system lifting. For a given system, the corresponding ILC and RC trial-domain models differ, and a thorough system theoretic analysis and comparison of these models is performed. To illustrate the value of a unified formulation of ILC and RC, the analysis of the most commonly used ILC and RC structures is harmonized. This analysis reveals central differences and similarities between various stability, monotonic convergence and steady-state performance conditions.

This work focuses on the model-free iterative learning control (ILC) design with good transient performance and fast convergence rate that is employed for precision control of a wafter stage. First, the experimental setup, the mathematical model, and the desired reference are introduced. Notice that the desired reference and its internal model (IM) are known in advance. Then, based on the internal model principle (IMP), a new ILC scheme, named as 1M-based ILC, is proposed by incorporating the 1M of the reference. The proposed 1M-based ILC is model-free, that is, independent on the system model of the controlled plant. The 1M -based ILC is carefully constructed to track the reference along the time axis while tracking/rejecting repetitive variations along the iteration axis. Precisely because of the tracking capability along the time axis in every iteration, the 1M-based ILC can achieve satisfactory performance even in the 0th iteration and improve the transient performance and the convergence speed. In addition, the 2-D $H_{\infty}$ theory is used to establish the design criterion for the 1M-based ILC. Finally, in the experiments, the efficiency of the 1M-based ILC is illustrated by comparing with a P-type ILC and a model-based one.

In this article, we propose a data-driven iterative learning control (ILC) framework for unknown nonlinear nonaffine repetitive discrete-time single-input-single-output systems by applying the dynamic linearization (DL) technique. The ILC law is constructed based on the equivalent DL expression of an unknown ideal learning controller in the iteration and time domains. The learning control gain vector is adaptively updated by using a Newton-type optimization method. The monotonic convergence on the tracking errors of the controlled plant is theoretically guaranteed with respect to the 2-norm under some conditions. In the proposed ILC framework, existing proportional, integral, and derivative type ILC, and high-order ILC can be considered as special cases. The proposed ILC framework is a pure data-driven ILC, that is, the ILC law is independent of the physical dynamics of the controlled plant, and the learning control gain updating algorithm is formulated using only the measured input-output data of the nonlinear system. The proposed ILC framework is effectively verified by two illustrative examples on a complicated unknown nonlinear system and on a linear time-varying system.

Iterative learning control (ILC) is one of the most popular tracking control methods for systems that repeatedly execute the same task. A system model is usually used in the analysis and design of ILC. Model‐based ILC results in general in fast convergence and good performance. However, the model uncertainties and nonrepetitive disturbances hamper its practical applications. One of the commonly used solutions is the introduction of a low‐pass filter, namely, the Q‐filter. However, it is indicated in this paper that the existing Q‐filter configurations compromise the servo performance, although improving the robustness. Motivated by the combination of performance and robustness, a novel Q‐filter configuration in ILC is presented in this paper. Some practical considerations, such as the configuration of ILC in a feedback control system, the time delay compensation, and the learning coefficient, are provided in the implementation of the proposed ILC algorithm. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed ILC versus existing Q‐filter ILC are demonstrated by both theoretical analysis and experimental verification on a wafer stage.

ABSTRACTIn this article, to tackle with the iteration-varying trail lengths and random initial state shifts, an average operator-based PD-type iterative learning control (ILC) law is firstly presented for linear discrete-time multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with vector relative degree. The proposed PD-type ILC law includes an initial rectifying action against initial state shifts, and pursues the reference trajectory tracking beyond the initial time points. As special cases of the PD-type ILC law, P-type and D-type ILC laws are then introduced. It is proved that for linear discrete-time MIMO systems with vector relative degree, the three proposed ILC laws can drive the varying trail lengths-based ILC tracking errors to zero in mathematical expectation beyond the initial time points. A numerical example is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed ILC laws.

In this paper, we present an iterative learning control (ILC) framework for tracking problems with predefined data points that are desired points at certain time instants. To design ILC systems for such problems, a new ILC scheme is proposed to produce output curves that pass close to the desired points. Unlike traditional ILC approaches, an algorithm will be developed in which the control signals are generated by solving an optimal ILC problem with respect to the desired sampling points. In another word, it is a direct approach for the multiple points tracking ILC control problem where we do not need to divide the tracking problem into two steps separately as trajectory planning and ILC controller. The strength of the proposed formulation is the methodology to obtain a control signal through learning law only considering the given data points and dynamic system, instead of following the direction of tracking a prior identified trajectory. The key advantage of the proposed approach is to significantly reduce the computational cost. Finally, simulation results will be introduced to confirm the effectiveness of proposed scheme.

Resource-efficient ILC for LTI/LTV systems through LQ tracking and stable inversion: Enabling large feedforward tasks on a position-dependent printer

In this paper, a new iterative learning algorithm is proposed for repetitive nonlinear systems. The control system employs a combination of state feedback and iterative learning control (ILC) in which the coefficients of states are learned similar to ILC methods. The control system is in a closed loop format both in iteration domain (because of ILC) and in time domain (because of feedback control) which improves the robustness of the conventional ILC. The convergence of the control algorithm is also proved. Finally, simulation results for a 5-DOF manipulator have been presented to illustrate that the proposed algorithm is more robust than a first order P type ILC method at the presence of white Gaussian noise as a nonrepeating disturbance.

The repetitive processing and large quantity of single product represented by 3C products are urgently needed. However, for current processing operations, previous processing data have not been used in the optimization of control input. In order to utilize previous processing data to facilitate the next process and avoid adverse effects caused by repetitive disturbance and noise, the idea of iterative learning was introduced to improve the accuracy of machining. On the control level, since it is difficult to obtain high accuracy by traditional feedback control when faced with complex trajectories, an open-loop iterative learning controller and a position loop feedback controller were introduced, which worked fast with good convergence effects. Aiming at reducing the influence of accidental error, step type iterative learning was put forward. The iteration mechanism was stopped when the accuracy converged to the allowable range so as to reduce computational complexity, store the current iterative part of the control input, and make constant value compensation. However, in simulation and experiment, it was found that after superposition of the iterative learning controller, the phenomenon of partial divergence of the system tracking error occurred. Therefore, the speed and acceleration characteristics of input trajectories in time domain and frequency domain were analyzed. High-frequency noise was introduced in frequency domain, which was found to be the cause of the abovementioned phenomenon, and high-frequency components were filtered to solve the problem. To further improve the accuracy of convergence and avoid filtering effective high-frequency information in some area, a switchable filter based on the analysis of the frequency characteristics of input trajectory was proposed. Through SIMULINK simulation and dSPACE experimental verification, it was proved that the iterative learning controller of modifying controlled quantity and filter based iterative learning control method are effective.

In order to improve the convergence speed of iterative learning control and reduce the fluctuation of the system error, a class of linear steady-state systems is considered. The convergence of the algorithm and error fluctuations are studied by introducing the variable-gain idea into the D-type iterative learning control algorithm with variable forgetting factor. According to the related properties of the λ norm theory, the convergence of the improved iterative learning algorithm is proved. Compared with iterative learning control with forgetting factor and iterative learning control with variable gain, MATLAB simulation analysis is performed. The simulation results show that the algorithm is effective. The improved iterative learning law not only makes the iterative error smoother, but also improves the convergence speed.

This paper presents a model-free adaptive iterative learning control (ILC) scheme called a proportional-type ILC scheme for non-linear systems. The obvious characteristic of the proposed ILC scheme is that we can easily finish the ILC task just utilising the Lipschitz constant of the system. In the proposed ILC scheme, the time-vary learning gain can be produced merely by input and output (I/O) measurements. Moreover, the convergence conclusion can be expressed by the ranges of the pseudo-partial derivative and the learning gain. In actual operation, a reasonable and useful convergence condition by a constant is also provided for selection. At last, the effectiveness of the proposed ILC scheme is shown by simulations.

Iterative learning control (ILC) involves the tracking of a trajectory over a finite interval, but with the introduction of new applications, scenarios emerged where tracking for whole duration is not mandatory, while tracking on specific points have more significance, so other forms of ILC emerged which are termed as point to point ILC with significance at intermediate points or specific points during the trajectory and Terminal point ILC with significance at final point. In this article, a comparison between these forms of ILC and different issues arising in the respective ILC forms are addressed and briefed.

Iterative learning control design for linear discrete-time systems with multiple high-order internal models

The repetitive tracking task for time‐varying systems (TVSs) with non‐repetitive time‐varying parameters at each trial, which is also called non‐repetitive TVSs, is realized in this article using iterative learning control (ILC). A machine learning (ML) based nominal model update mechanism, which utilizes the linear regression technique to update the nominal model at each ILC trial using only the current trial information, is proposed for non‐repetitive TVSs in order to enhance the ILC performance. Given that the ML mechanism forces the model uncertainties to remain within the ILC robust tolerance, an ILC update law is proposed to deal with non‐repetitive TVSs. How to tune parameters inside ML and ILC algorithms to achieve the desired aggregate performance is also provided. The robustness and reliability of the proposed method are verified by real experiments. Real data comparison with current state‐of‐the‐art methods demonstrates its superior control performance in terms of controlling precision. This article broadens ILC applications from time‐invariant systems to non‐repetitive TVSs, adopts ML regression technique to estimate non‐repetitive time‐varying parameters between two ILC trials and proposes a detailed parameter tuning mechanism to achieve desired performance, which are the main contributions.