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Article
Publication date: 15 August 2024

Yanchao Sun, Jiayu Li, Hongde Qin and Yutong Du

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is widely used in resource prospection and underwater detection due to its excellent performance. This study considers input saturation…

Abstract

Purpose

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is widely used in resource prospection and underwater detection due to its excellent performance. This study considers input saturation, nonlinear model uncertainties and external ocean current disturbances. The containment errors can be limited to a small neighborhood of zero in finite time by employing control strategy. The control strategy can keep errors within a certain range between the trajectory followed by AUVs and their intended targets. This can mitigate the issues of collisions and disruptions in communication which may arise from AUVs being in close proximity or excessively distant from each other.

Design/methodology/approach

The tracking errors are constrained. Based on the directed communication topology, a cooperative formation control algorithm for multi-AUV systems with constrained errors is designed. By using the saturation function, state observers are designed to estimate the AUV’s velocity in six degrees of freedom. A new virtual control algorithm is designed through combining backstepping technique and the tan-type barrier Lyapunov function. Neural networks are used to estimate and compensate for the nonlinear model uncertainties and external ocean current disturbances. A neural network adaptive law is designed.

Findings

The containment errors can be limited to a small neighborhood of zero in finite time so that follower AUVs can arrive at the convex hull consisting of leader AUVs within finite time. The validity of the results is indicated by simulations.

Originality/value

The state observers are designed to approximate the speed of the AUV and improve the accuracy of the control method. The anti-saturation function and neural network adaptive law are designed to deal with input saturation and general disturbances, respectively. It can ensure the safety and reliability of the multiple AUV systems.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. 44 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 September 2024

Shanshuai Niu, Junzheng Wang and Jiangbo Zhao

There are various uncertain and nonlinear problems in hydraulic legged robot systems, including parameter uncertainty, unmodeled dynamics and external disturbances. This study…

Abstract

Purpose

There are various uncertain and nonlinear problems in hydraulic legged robot systems, including parameter uncertainty, unmodeled dynamics and external disturbances. This study aims to eliminate uncertainties and improve the foot trajectory tracking control performance of hydraulic legged robots, a high-performance foot trajectory tracking control method based on fixed-time disturbance observers for hydraulic legged robots is proposed.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the robot leg mechanical system model and hydraulic system model of the hydraulic legged robot are established. Subsequently, two fixed-time disturbance observers are designed to address the unmatched lumped uncertainty and match lumped uncertainty in the system. Finally, the lumped uncertainties are compensated in the controller design, and the designed motion controller also achieves fixed-time stability.

Findings

Through simulation and experiments, it can be found that the proposed tracking control method based on fixed-time observers has better tracking control performance. The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method have been verified.

Originality/value

Both the disturbance observers and the controller achieve fixed-time stability, effectively improving the performance of foot trajectory tracking control for hydraulic legged robots.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 July 2024

Peng Gao, Xiuqin Su, Zhibin Pan, Maosen Xiao and Wenbo Zhang

This study aims to promote the anti-disturbance and tracking accuracy performance of the servo systems, in which a modified active disturbance rejection control (MADRC) scheme is…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to promote the anti-disturbance and tracking accuracy performance of the servo systems, in which a modified active disturbance rejection control (MADRC) scheme is proposed.

Design/methodology/approach

An adaptive radial basis function (ARBF) neural network is utilized to estimate and compensate dominant friction torque disturbance, and a parallel high-gain extended state observer (PHESO) is employed to further compensate residual and other uncertain disturbances. This parallel compensation structure reduces the burden of single ESO and improves the response speed of permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) to hybrid disturbances. Moreover, the sliding mode control (SMC) rate is introduced to design an adaptive update law of ARBF.

Findings

Simulation and experimental results show that as compared to conventional ADRC and SMC algorithms, the position tracking error is only 2.3% and the average estimation error of the total disturbances is only 1.4% in the proposed MADRC algorithm.

Originality/value

The disturbance parallel estimation structure proposed in MADRC algorithm is proved to significantly improve the performance of anti-disturbance and tracking accuracy.

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Dukun Xu, Yimin Deng and Haibin Duan

This paper aims to develop a method for tuning the parameters of the active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The bald eagle…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a method for tuning the parameters of the active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The bald eagle search (BES) algorithm has been improved, and a cost function has been designed to enhance the optimization efficiency of ADRC parameters.

Design/methodology/approach

A six-degree-of-freedom nonlinear model for a fixed-wing UAV has been developed, and its attitude controller has been formulated using the active disturbance rejection control method. The parameters of the disturbance rejection controller have been fine-tuned using the collaborative mutual promotion bald eagle search (CMP-BES) algorithm. The pitch and roll controllers for the UAV have been individually optimized to obtain the most effective controller parameters.

Findings

Inspired by the salp swarm algorithm (SSA), the interaction among individual eagles has been incorporated into the CMP-BES algorithm, thereby enhancing the algorithm's exploration capability. The efficient and accurate optimization ability of the proposed algorithm has been demonstrated through comparative experiments with genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, Harris hawks optimization HHO, BES and modified bald eagle search algorithms. The algorithm's capability to solve complex optimization problems has been further proven by testing on the CEC2017 test function suite. A transitional function for fitness calculation has been introduced to accelerate the ability of the algorithm to find the optimal parameters for the ADRC controller. The tuned ADRC controller has been compared with the classical proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, with gust disturbances introduced to the UAV body axis. The results have shown that the tuned ADRC controller has faster response times and stronger disturbance rejection capabilities than the PID controller.

Practical implications

The proposed CMP-BES algorithm, combined with a fitness function composed of transition functions, can be used to optimize the ADRC controller parameters for fixed-wing UAVs more quickly and effectively. The tuned ADRC controller has exhibited excellent robustness and disturbance rejection capabilities.

Originality/value

The CMP-BES algorithm and transitional function have been proposed for the parameter optimization of the active disturbance rejection controller for fixed-wing UAVs.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 July 2024

Bin Li, Shoukun Wang, Jinge Si, Yongkang Xu, Liang Wang, Chencheng Deng, Junzheng Wang and Zhi Liu

Dynamically tracking the target by unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) plays a critical role in mobile drone recovery. This study aims to solve this challenge under diverse random…

Abstract

Purpose

Dynamically tracking the target by unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) plays a critical role in mobile drone recovery. This study aims to solve this challenge under diverse random disturbances, proposing a dynamic target tracking framework for UGVs based on target state estimation, trajectory prediction, and UGV control.

Design/methodology/approach

To mitigate the adverse effects of noise contamination in target detection, the authors use the extended Kalman filter (EKF) to improve the accuracy of locating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Furthermore, a robust motion prediction algorithm based on polynomial fitting is developed to reduce the impact of trajectory jitter caused by crosswinds, enhancing the stability of drone trajectory prediction. Regarding UGV control, a dynamic vehicle model featuring independent front and rear wheel steering is derived. Additionally, a linear time-varying model predictive control algorithm is proposed to minimize tracking errors for the UGV.

Findings

To validate the feasibility of the framework, the algorithms were deployed on the designed UGV. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed dynamic tracking algorithm of UGV under random disturbances.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a tracking framework of UGV based on target state estimation, trajectory prediction and UGV predictive control, enabling the system to achieve dynamic tracking to the UAV under multiple disturbance conditions.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 51 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 August 2024

Jingxuan Chai, Jie Mei, Youmin Gong, Weiren Wu, Guangfu Ma and Guoming Zhao

Asteroids have the characteristics of noncooperative, irregular gravity and complex terrain on the surface, which cause difficulties in successful landing for conventional…

Abstract

Purpose

Asteroids have the characteristics of noncooperative, irregular gravity and complex terrain on the surface, which cause difficulties in successful landing for conventional landers. The purpose of this paper is to study the trajectory tracking problem of a multi-node flexible lander with unknown flexible coefficient and space disturbance.

Design/methodology/approach

To facilitate the stability analysis, this paper constructs a simplified dynamic model of the multi-node flexible lander. By introducing the nonlinear transformation, a concurrent learning-based adaptive trajectory tracking guidance law is designed to ensure tracking performance, which uses both real-time information and historical data to estimate the parameters without persistent excitation (PE) conditions. A data selection algorithm is developed to enhance the richness of historical data, which can improve the convergence rate of the parameter estimation and the guidance performance.

Findings

Finally, Lyapunov stability theory is used to prove that the unknown parameters can converge to their actual value and, meanwhile, the closed-loop system is stable. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is further verified through simulations.

Originality/value

This paper provides a new design idea for future asteroid landers, and a trajectory tracking controller based on concurrent learning and preset performance is first proposed.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Qixin Zhu, Wenxin Sun, Yehu Shen, Guizhong Fu, Yong Yang and Jinbin Li

This study aims to improve the control accuracy and antidisturbance performance of the manipulator with the flexible link, a combined controller, which combines the novel…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to improve the control accuracy and antidisturbance performance of the manipulator with the flexible link, a combined controller, which combines the novel backstepping sliding mode controller based on the extended state observer (ESO) and super-twisting sliding mode controller.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the dynamic of the system is constructed by Lagrange method and assumed mode method, and then the dynamic is decoupled by the singular perturbation theory to obtain the slow-varying subsystem and fast-varying subsystem. For the slow-varying subsystem, the novel backstepping sliding mode controller based on ESO is used to achieve joint tracking. For the fast-varying subsystem, the super-twisting sliding mode controller is used for vibration suppression. At the same time, to suppress chattering, the tanh function is used to replace the sign function in the reaching law.

Findings

The simulation results show that the combined control has better trajectory tracking performance, antiinterference performance and vibration suppression performance than traditional sliding mode control (SMC).

Originality/value

A novel backstepping sliding mode controller based on ESO is designed to guarantee the performance of the tracking trajectory. The new controller improves the converge rate. A super-twisting sliding mode controller, which can stabilize the fast-varying subsystem, is used to suppress the vibration of flexible link.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 July 2024

Zhixu Zhu, Hualiang Zhang, Guanghui Liu and Dongyang Zhang

This paper aims to propose a hybrid force/position controller based on the adaptive variable impedance.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a hybrid force/position controller based on the adaptive variable impedance.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the working space is divided into a force control subspace and a position subspace, the force control subspace adopts the position impedance control strategy. At the same time, the contact force model between the robot and the surface is analyzed in this space. Second, based on the traditional position impedance, the model reference adaptive control is introduced to provide an accurate reference position for the impedance controller. Then, the BP neural network is used to adjust the impedance parameters online.

Findings

The experimental results show that compared with the traditional PI control method, the proposed method has a higher flexibility, the dynamic response accommodation time is reduced by 7.688 s and the steady-state error is reduced by 30.531%. The overshoot of the contact force between the end of robot and the workpiece is reduced by 34.325% comparing with the fixed impedance control method.

Practical implications

The proposed control method compares with a hybrid force/position based on PI control method and a position fixed impedance control method by simulation and experiment.

Originality/value

The adaptive variable impedance control method improves accuracy of force tracking and solves the problem of the large surfaces with robot grinding often over-polished at the protrusion and under-polished at the concave.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 51 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 August 2024

Hong Zhan, Dexi Ye, Chao Zeng and Chenguang Yang

This paper aims to deal with the force and position tracking problem when a robot performs a task in interaction with an unknown environment and presents a hybrid control strategy…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to deal with the force and position tracking problem when a robot performs a task in interaction with an unknown environment and presents a hybrid control strategy based on variable admittance control and fixed-time control.

Design/methodology/approach

A hybrid control strategy based on variable admittance control and fixed-time control is presented. Firstly, a variable stiffness admittance model control based on proportional integral and differential (PID) is adopted to maintain the expected force value during the task execution. Secondly, a fixed-time controller based on radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is introduced to handle the model uncertainties and ensure the fast position tracking convergence of the robot system, while the singularity problem is also avoided by designing the virtual control variable with piecewise function.

Findings

Simulation studies conducted on the robot manipulator with two degrees of freedom have verified the superior performance of the proposed control strategy comparing with other methods.

Originality/value

A hybrid control scheme for robot–environment interaction is presented, in which the variable stiffness admittance method is adopted to adjust the interaction force to the desired value, and the RBFNN-based fixed-time position controller without singularity problem is designed to ensure the fast convergence of the robot system with model uncertainty.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 May 2024

Jun Tian, Xungao Zhong, Xiafu Peng, Huosheng Hu and Qiang Liu

Visual feedback control is a promising solution for robots work in unstructured environments, and this is accomplished by estimation of the time derivative relationship between…

Abstract

Purpose

Visual feedback control is a promising solution for robots work in unstructured environments, and this is accomplished by estimation of the time derivative relationship between the image features and the robot moving. While some of the drawbacks associated with most visual servoing (VS) approaches include the vision–motor mapping computation and the robots’ dynamic performance, the problem of designing optimal and more effective VS systems still remains challenging. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose and evaluate the VS method for robots in an unstructured environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a new model-free VS control of a robotic manipulator, for which an adaptive estimator aid by network learning is proposed using online estimation of the vision–motor mapping relationship in an environment without the knowledge of statistical noise. Based on the adaptive estimator, a model-free VS schema was constructed by introducing an active disturbance rejection control (ADRC). In our schema, the VS system was designed independently of the robot kinematic model.

Findings

The various simulations and experiments were conducted to verify the proposed approach by using an eye-in-hand robot manipulator without calibration and vision depth information, which can improve the autonomous maneuverability of the robot and also allow the robot to adapt its motion according to the image feature changes in real time. In the current method, the image feature trajectory was stable in the camera field range, and the robot’s end motion trajectory did not exhibit shock retreat. The results showed that the steady-state errors of image features was within 19.74 pixels, the robot positioning was stable within 1.53 mm and 0.0373 rad and the convergence rate of the control system was less than 7.21 s in real grasping tasks.

Originality/value

Compared with traditional Kalman filtering for image-based VS and position-based VS methods, this paper adopts the model-free VS method based on the adaptive mapping estimator combination with the ADRC controller, which is effective for improving the dynamic performance of robot systems. The proposed model-free VS schema is suitable for robots’ grasping manipulation in unstructured environments.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 51 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

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