A design approach to adaptive model-following control of robotic manipulators (Q1343371)

An adaptive control law for a multi-body mechanical system is proposed. The adaptation consists in following a linear and time-invariant reference model. The system itself is assumed to be a nonlinear one, with gravity terms modelled as external disturbances. The asymptotic stability of the adaptive closed-loop system is proved using results from hyperstability theory. The resulting control signals are composed of three components: the nonadaptive linear control term, the adaptive-nonlinear term resulting from the hyperstability condition, and the superimposed term corresponding to the integral feedback, guaranteeing asymptotic stability of the overall system. To illustrate the method, simulation results are given. The example displays the behavior of the three lower joints of the PUMA 560 robot.