Dynamic balance and walking control of biped mechanisms

The research presented here focuses on the development of a feedback control systems for locomotion of two and three dimensional, dynamically balanced, biped mechanisms. The main areas to be discussed are: development of equations of motion for multibody systems, balancing control, walking cycle generation, and interactive computer graphics. Additional topics include: optimization, interface devices, manual control methods, and ground contact force generation;Planar (2D) and spatial (3D) multibody system models are developed in this thesis to handle all allowable ground support conditions without system reconfiguration. All models consist of lower body segments only; head and arm segments are not included. Model parameters for segment length, mass, and moments of inertia are adjustable. A ground contact foot model simulates compression compliance and allows for non-uniform surfaces. In addition to flat surfaces with variable friction coefficients, the systems can adapt to inclines and steps;Control techniques are developed that range from manual torque input to automatic control for several types of balancing, walking, and transitioning modes. Balancing mode control algorithms can deal with several types of initial conditions which include falling and jumping onto various types of surfaces. Walking control state machines allow selection of steady-state velocity, step size, and/or step frequency;The real-time interactive simulation software developed during this project allows the user to operate the biped systems within a 3D virtual environment. In addition to presenting algorithms for interactive biped locomotion control, insights can also be drawn from this work into the levels of required user effort for tasks involving systems controlled by simultaneous user inputs;Position and ground reaction force data obtained from human walking studies are compared to walking data generated by one of the more complex biped models developed for this project

Particle swarm optimization and spiral dynamic algorithm-based interval type-2 fuzzy logic control of triple-link inverted pendulum system: A comparative assessment

This paper presents investigations into the development of an interval type-2 fuzzy logic control (IT2FLC) mechanism integrated with particle swarm optimization and spiral dynamic algorithm. The particle swarm optimization and spiral dynamic algorithm are used for enhanced performance of the IT2FLC by finding optimised values for input and output controller gains and parameter values of IT2FLC membership function as comparison purpose in order to identify better solution for the system. A new model of triple-link inverted pendulum on two-wheels system, developed within SimWise 4D software environment and integrated with Matlab/Simulink for control purpose. Several tests comprising system stabilization, disturbance rejection and convergence accuracy of the algorithms are carried out to demonstrate the robustness of the control approach. It is shown that the particle swarm optimization-based control mechanism performs better than the spiral dynamic algorithm-based control in terms of system stability, disturbance rejection and reduce noise. Moreover, the particle swarm optimization-based IT2FLC shows better performance in comparison to previous research. It is envisaged that this system and control algorithm can be very useful for the development of a mobile robot with extended functionality

Stability analysis of non-holonomic inverted pendulum system

The inverted pendulum is doubtlessly one of the most famous control problems found in most control text books and laboratories worldwide. This popularity comes from the fact that the inverted pendulum exhibits nonlinear, unstable and non-minimum phase dynamics. The basic control objective of the study is to design a controller in order to maintain the upright position of the pendulum while also controlling the position of the cart. In our study we explored the relationship that the tuning parameters (weight on the position of the car and the angle that the pendulum makes with the vertical) of a classical inverted pendulum on a cart has on the pole placement and hence on the stability of the system. We then present a family of curves showing the local root-locus and develop relationships between the weight changes and the system performance. We describe how these locus trends provide insight that is useful to the control designer during the effort to optimize the system performance. Finally, we use our general results to design an effective feedback controller for a new system with a longer pendulum, and present experiment results that demonstrate the effectiveness of our analysis. We then designed a simulation-based study to determine the stability characteristics of a holonomic inverted pendulum system. Here we decoupled the system using geometry as two independent one dimensional inverted pendulum and observed that the system can be stabilized using this method successfully with and without noise added to the system. Next, we designed a linear system for the highly complex inverted pendulum on a non-holonomic cart system. Overall, the findings will provide valuable input to the controller designers for a wide range of applications including tuning of the controller parameters to design of a linear controller for nonlinear systems

Fuzzy adaptive control of a two-wheeled inverted pendulum

Recently, the two-wheeled inverted pendulum has drawn the attention of robotic community in view of a plethora of applications, such as transport vehicles: Segway, teleconferencing robots, and electronic network-vehicle. As a widely-used personal transportation vehicle, a two-wheeled inverted pendulum robot has the advantages of small size and simple structure. Moreover, with the advent of modern control technology, these kinds of platforms with safety features and sophisticated control functions can be cost down, so that they have high potential to satisfy stringent requirements of various autonomous service robots with high speed. At the same time, it is of great interest from control point of view as the inverted pendulum is a complicated, strongly coupled, unstable and nonlinear system. Therefore, it is an ideal experimental platform for various control theories and experiments. To understand such a complex system, the Lagrangian equation has been introduced to develop a dynamic model. And following the mathematical model, linear quadratic regulator control and fuzzy adaptive method are proposed for upright stabilization, velocity control and position control of the system. However, sometimes these kinds of robots need to move on a slope, so an advanced linear quadratic regulator controller and a modified fuzzy adaptive controller have been proposed to achieve position control on a slope for the robot while stabilizing its body in balance. In addition, trajectory tracking control using proportional integral derivative control and sliding mode control with fuzzy adaptive backstepping method is also designed to make the robot autonomously navigate in two dimensional plane. Simulation results indicate that the proposed controllers are capable of providing appropriate control actions to steer the vehicle in desired manners. Then, a couple of real time experiments have been conducted to verify the the effectiveness of the developed control strategies

Intelligent model-based control of complex three-link mechanisms

The aim of this study is to understand the complexity and control challenges of the locomotion of a three-link mechanism of a robot system. In order to do this a three-link robot gymnast (Robogymnast) has been built in Cardiff University. The Robogymnast is composed of three links (one arm, one torso, one leg) and is powered by two geared DC motors. Currently the robot has three potentiometers to measure the relative angles between adjacent links and only one tachometer to measure the relative angular position of the first link. A mathematical model for the robot is derived using Lagrange equations. Since the model is inherently nonlinear and multivariate, it presents more challenges when modelling the Robogymnast and dealing with control motion problems. The proposed approach for dealing with the design of the control system is based on a discrete-time linear model around the upright position of the Robogymnast. To study the swinging motion of the Robogymnast, a new technique is proposed to manipulate the frequency and the amplitude of the sinusoidal signals as a means of controlling the motors. Due to the many combinations of the frequency and amplitude, an optimisation method is required to find the optimal set. The Bees Algorithm (BA), a novel swarm-based optimisation technique, is used to enhance the performance of the swinging motion through optimisation of the manipulated parameters of the control actions. The time taken to reach the upright position at its best is 128 seconds. Two different control methods are adopted to study the balancing/stablising of the Robogymnast in both the downward and upright configurations. The first is the optimal control algorithm using the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) technique with integrators to help achieve and maintain the set of reference trajectories. The second is a combination of Local Control (LC) and LQR. Each controller is implemented via reduced order state observer to estimate the unmeasured states in terms of their relative angular velocities. From the identified data in the relative angular positions of the upright balancing control, it is reported that the maximum amplitude of the deviation in the relative angles on average are approximately 7.5° for the first link and 18° for the second link. It is noted that the third link deviated approximately by 2.5° using only the LQR controller, and no significant deviation when using the LQR with LC. To explore the combination between swinging and balancing motions, a switching mechanism between swinging and balancing algorithm is proposed. This is achieved by dividing the controller into three stages. The first stage is the swinging control, the next stage is the transition control which is accomplished using the Independent Joint Control (IJC) technique and finally balancing control is achieved by the LQR. The duration time of the transition controller to track the reference trajectory of the Robogymnast at its best is found to be within 0.4 seconds. An external disturbance is applied to each link of the Robogymnast separately in order to study the controller's ability to overcome the disturbance and to study the controller response. The simulation of the Robogymnast and experimental realization of the controllers are implemented using MATLAB® software and the C++ program environment respectively

Modeling, identification and control of cart-pole system

To understand any physical world system, a proper mathematical model is required. With the help of mathematical model, the system can be studied and controlled. There are different ways to develop a mathematical model such as first principle method and system identification method. First principle method is generally used when there is sufficient knowledge of the physical world system but system identification is used when there is no knowledge of the system. System identification is widely used to develop mathematical model of complex, non-linear systems. Cart-pole system is a benchmark problem in control system where the control objective is to balance the inverted pendulum mounted on the cart to a vertical position. This complete system is nonlinear in nature and the mathematical model can’t be efficiently calculated using first principle modeling. So system identification method is used to develop the mathematical model of the said system. This thesis finds out the linearized mathematical model of the said cart-pole system using parametric system identification procedure. Parametric system identification procedure consists of experiment design, model structure selection, parameter estimation and model validation. This thesis also designs linear and non-linear controller for the said system. For linearized model of cart-pole system some of the linear controllers designed are LQR, LQR-Pole-placement-PID, Fuzzy-PID, LQG and H-infinity. For the nonlinear model of cart-pole system, the control techniques discussed are the partial feedback linearization and classical feedback linearization control

Intelligent model-based control of complex multi-link mechanisms

Complex under-actuated multilink mechanism involves a system whose number of control inputs is smaller than the dimension of the configuration space. The ability to control such a system through the manipulation of its natural dynamics would allow for the design of more energy-efficient machines with the ability to achieve smooth motions similar to those found in the natural world. This research aims to understand the complex nature of the Robogymnast, a triple link underactuated pendulum built at Cardiff University with the purpose of studying the behaviour of non-linear systems and understanding the challenges in developing its control system. A mathematical model of the robot was derived from the Euler-Lagrange equations. The design of the control system was based on the discrete-time linear model around the downward position and a sampling time of 2.5 milliseconds. Firstly, Invasive Weed Optimization (IWO) was used to optimize the swing-up motion of the robot by determining the optimum values of parameters that control the input signals of the Robogymnast’s two motors. The values obtained from IWO were then applied to both simulation and experiment. The results showed that the swing-up motion of the Robogymnast from the stable downward position to the inverted configuration to be successfully achieved. Secondly, due to the complex nature and nonlinearity of the Robogymnast, a novel approach of modelling the Robogymnast using a multi-layered Elman neural ii network (ENN) was proposed. The ENN model was then tested with various inputs and its output were analysed. The results showed that the ENN model to be capable of providing a better representation of the actual system compared to the mathematical model. Thirdly, IWO is used to investigate the optimum Q values of the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) for inverted balance control of the Robogymnast. IWO was used to obtain the optimal Q values required by the LQR to maintain the Robogymnast in an upright configuration. Two fitness criteria were investigated: cost function J and settling time T. A controller was developed using values obtained from each fitness criteria. The results showed that LQRT performed faster but LQRJ was capable of stabilizing the Robogymnast from larger deflection angles. Finally, fitness criteria J and T were used simultaneously to obtain the optimal Q values for the LQR. For this purpose, two multi-objective optimization methods based on the IWO, namely the Weighted Criteria Method IWO (WCMIWO) and the Fuzzy Logic IWO Hybrid (FLIWOH) were developed. Two LQR controllers were first developed using the parameters obtained from the two optimization methods. The same process was then repeated with disturbance applied to the Robogymnast states to develop another two LQR controllers. The response of the controllers was then tested in different scenarios using simulation and their performance was evaluated. The results showed that all four controllers were able to balance the Robogymnast with the fastest settling time achieved by WMCIWO with disturbance followed by in the ascending order: FLIWOH with disturbance, FLIWOH, and WCMIWO

Using a Combination of PID Control and Kalman Filter to Design of IoT-based Telepresence Self-balancing Robots during COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 is a very dangerous respiratory disease that can spread quickly through the air. Doctors, nurses, and medical personnel need protective clothing and are very careful in treating COVID-19 patients to avoid getting infected with the COVID-19 virus. Hence, a medical telepresence robot, which resembles a humanoid robot, is necessary to treat COVID-19 patients. The proposed self-balancing COVID-19 medical telepresence robot is a medical robot that handles COVID-19 patients, which resembles a stand-alone humanoid soccer robot with two wheels that can maneuver freely in hospital hallways. The proposed robot design has some control problems; it requires steady body positioning and is subjected to disturbance. A control method that functions to find the stability value such that the system response can reach the set-point is required to control the robot's stability and repel disturbances; this is known as disturbance rejection control. This study aimed to control the robot using a combination of Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control and a Kalman filter. Mathematical equations were required to obtain a model of the robot's characteristics. The state-space model was derived from the self-balancing robot's mathematical equation. Since a PID control technique was used to keep the robot balanced, this state-space model was converted into a transfer function model. The second Ziegler-Nichols's rule oscillation method was used to tune the PID parameters. The values of the amplifier constants obtained were Kp=31.002, Ki=5.167, and Kd=125.992128. The robot was designed to be able to maintain its balance for more than one hour by using constant tuning, even when an external disturbance is applied to it. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-SP1-016 Full Text: PD