Model-Based Robot Control and Multiprocessor Implementation

Model-based control of robot manipulators has been gaining momentum in recent years. Unfortunately there are very few experimental validations to accompany simulation results and as such majority of conclusions drawn lack the credibility associated with the real control implementation

Task-space dynamic control of underwater robots

This thesis is concerned with the control aspects for underwater tasks performed by marine robots. The mathematical models of an underwater vehicle and an underwater vehicle with an onboard manipulator are discussed together with their associated properties. The task-space regulation problem for an underwater vehicle is addressed where the desired target is commonly specified as a point. A new control technique is proposed where the multiple targets are defined as sub-regions. A fuzzy technique is used to handle these multiple sub-region criteria effectively. Due to the unknown gravitational and buoyancy forces, an adaptive term is adopted in the proposed controller. An extension to a region boundary-based control law is then proposed for an underwater vehicle to illustrate the flexibility of the region reaching concept. In this novel controller, a desired target is defined as a boundary instead of a point or region. For a mapping of the uncertain restoring forces, a least-squares estimation algorithm and the inverse Jacobian matrix are utilised in the adaptive control law. To realise a new tracking control concept for a kinematically redundant robot, subregion tracking control schemes with a sub-tasks objective are developed for a UVMS. In this concept, the desired objective is specified as a moving sub-region instead of a trajectory. In addition, due to the system being kinematically redundant, the controller also enables the use of self-motion of the system to perform sub-tasks (drag minimisation, obstacle avoidance, manipulability and avoidance of mechanical joint limits)

Industrial Robotics

This book covers a wide range of topics relating to advanced industrial robotics, sensors and automation technologies. Although being highly technical and complex in nature, the papers presented in this book represent some of the latest cutting edge technologies and advancements in industrial robotics technology. This book covers topics such as networking, properties of manipulators, forward and inverse robot arm kinematics, motion path-planning, machine vision and many other practical topics too numerous to list here. The authors and editor of this book wish to inspire people, especially young ones, to get involved with robotic and mechatronic engineering technology and to develop new and exciting practical applications, perhaps using the ideas and concepts presented herein

Recent Advances in Robust Control

Robust control has been a topic of active research in the last three decades culminating in H_2/H_\infty and \mu design methods followed by research on parametric robustness, initially motivated by Kharitonov's theorem, the extension to non-linear time delay systems, and other more recent methods. The two volumes of Recent Advances in Robust Control give a selective overview of recent theoretical developments and present selected application examples. The volumes comprise 39 contributions covering various theoretical aspects as well as different application areas. The first volume covers selected problems in the theory of robust control and its application to robotic and electromechanical systems. The second volume is dedicated to special topics in robust control and problem specific solutions. Recent Advances in Robust Control will be a valuable reference for those interested in the recent theoretical advances and for researchers working in the broad field of robotics and mechatronics

Output-feedback adaptive SP-SD-Type control with an extended continuous adaptation algorithm for the global regulation of robot manipulators with bounded inputs

"In this work, an output-feedback adaptive SP-SD-type control scheme for the global position stabilization of robot manipulators with bounded inputs is proposed. Compared with the output-feedback adaptive approaches previously developed in a bounded-input context, the proposed velocity-free feedback controller guarantees the adaptive regulation objective globally (i.e. for any initial condition), avoiding discontinuities throughout the scheme, preventing the inputs from reaching their natural saturation bounds and imposing no saturation-avoidance restrictions on the choice of the P and D control gains. Moreover, through its extended structure, the adaptation algorithm may be configured to evolve either in parallel (independently) or interconnected to the velocity estimation (motion dissipation) auxiliary dynamics, giving an additional degree of design flexibility. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is not restricted to the use of a specific saturation function to achieve the required boundedness, but may involve any one within a set of smooth and non-smooth (Lipschitz-continuous) bounded passive functions that include the hyperbolic tangent and the conventional saturation as particular cases. Experimental results on a 3-degree-of-freedom manipulator corroborate the efficiency of the proposed scheme

Advanced Strategies for Robot Manipulators

Amongst the robotic systems, robot manipulators have proven themselves to be of increasing importance and are widely adopted to substitute for human in repetitive and/or hazardous tasks. Modern manipulators are designed complicatedly and need to do more precise, crucial and critical tasks. So, the simple traditional control methods cannot be efficient, and advanced control strategies with considering special constraints are needed to establish. In spite of the fact that groundbreaking researches have been carried out in this realm until now, there are still many novel aspects which have to be explored

Output-feedback adaptive control for the global regulation of robot manipulators with bounded inputs

"In this paper, an output-feedback adaptive scheme for the global position stabilization of robot manipulators with bounded inputs is proposed. Compared to the previous output-feedback adaptive approaches developed in a bounded-input context, the proposed free-of-velocity feedback controller guarantees the adaptive regulation objective: globally, avoiding discontinuities throughout the scheme, preventing the inputs to reach their natural saturation bounds, and imposing no saturation-avoidance restriction on the control gains. Moreover, the developed scheme is not restricted to the use of a specific saturation function to achieve the required boundedness, but may involve any one within a set of smooth and non-smooth (Lipschitz-continuous) bounded passive functions that include the hyperbolic tangent and the conventional saturation as particular cases. Experimental results corroborate the efficiency of the proposed scheme.