Robust Control of Rigid-Link Flexible-Joint Robots with Redundant Joint Actuators

Abstract

This paper presents as approach for designing robust tracking controllers for rigid-link flexible-joint (RLFJ) robot manipulators with redundant actuators in the joints. Synchronization is a major problem for the control of a single robotic joint driven by two actuators. This control problem is further complicated by the effects of actuator dynamics, model uncertainty and unknown bounded disturbances. To solve this problem, we develop a robust tracking controller that achieves global uniform ultimate bounded (GUUB) stability of the link tracking error in spite of bounded disturbances and model uncertainty.