showing 7 related works from this author
On the Stability of the Soft Pendulum With Affine Curvature: Open-Loop, Collocated Closed-Loop, and Switching Control
2022
This letter investigates the stability properties of the soft inverted pendulum with affine curvature - a template model for nonlinear control of underactuated soft robots. We look at how changes in physical parameters affect stability and equilibrium. We give conditions under which zero dynamics corresponding to a collocated choice of the output is (locally or globally) stable or unstable. We leverage these results to design a switching controller that stabilizes a class of nonlinear equilibria of the pendulum, which can drive the system from one equilibrium to another.
Force/Torque-Sensorless Joint Stiffness Estimation in Articulated Soft Robots
2022
Currently, the access to the knowledge of stiffness values is typically constrained to a-priori identified models or datasheet information, which either do not usually take into ac- count the full range of possible stiffness values or need extensive experiments. This work tackles the challenge of stiffness estimation in articulated soft manipulators, and it proposes an innovative solution adding value to the previous research by removing the necessity for force/torque sensors and generalizing to multi-degree- of-freedom robots. Built upon the theory of unknown input-state observers and recursive least-square algorithms, the solution is independent of the actuator model parameters and its in…
Robust and Decoupled Position and Stiffness Control for Electrically-Driven Articulated Soft Robots
2022
The control of articulated soft robots, i.e. robots with flexible joints and rigid links, presents a challenge due to their in- trinsic elastic elements and nonlinear force-deflection dependency. This letter first proposes a discrete-time delayed unknown input- state observer based on a nominal robot model that reconstructs the total torque disturbance vector, resulting from the imperfect knowledge of the elastic torque characteristic, external torques, and other model uncertainties. Then, it introduces a robust controller, that actively compensates for the estimated uncertainty and allows bounded stability for the tracking of independent link position and joint stiffness reference signals.…
Decoupled nonlinear adaptive control of position and stiffness for pneumatic soft robots
2020
This article addresses the problem of simultaneous and robust closed-loop control of joint stiffness and position, for a class of antagonistically actuated pneumatic soft robots with rigid links and compliant joints. By introducing a first-order dynamic equation for the stiffness variable and using the additional control degree of freedom, embedded in the null space of the pneumatic actuator matrix, an innovative control approach is introduced comprising an adaptive compensator and a dynamic decoupler. The proposed solution builds upon existing adaptive control theory and provides a technique for closing the loop on joint stiffness in pneumatic variable stiffness actuators. Under a very mi…
Comparison of Model-Based Simultaneous Position and Stiffness Control Techniques for Pneumatic Soft Robots
2020
Soft robots have been extensively studied for their ability to provide both good performance and safe human-robot interaction. In this paper, we present and compare the performance of two model-based control techniques with the common aim to independently and simultaneously control position and stiffness of a pneumatic soft robot’s joint. The dynamic system of a robot arm with flexible joints actuated by a pneumatic antagonistic pair of actuators, so-called McKibben artificial muscles, will be regarded, while its dynamic parameters will be considered imprecise. Simulation results are provided to verify the performance of the algorithms.
An Input Observer-Based Stiffness Estimation Approach for Flexible Robot Joints
2020
This letter addresses the stiffness estimation problem for flexible robot joints, driven by variable stiffness actuators in antagonistic setups. Due to the difficulties of achieving consistent production of these actuators and the time-varying nature of their internal flexible elements, which are subject to plastic deformation over time, it is currently a challenge to precisely determine the total flexibility torque applied to a robot's joint and the corresponding joint stiffness. Herein, by considering the flexibility torque acting on each motor as an unknown signal and building upon Unknown Input Observer theory, a solution for electrically-driven actuators is proposed, which consists of …
Adaptive Control of Soft Robots Based on an Enhanced 3D Augmented Rigid Robot Matching
2021
Despite having proven successful in generating precise motions under dynamic conditions in highly deformable soft-bodied robots, model based techniques are also prone to robustness issues connected to the intrinsic uncertain nature of the dynamics of these systems. This letter aims at tackling this challenge, by extending the augmented rigid robot formulation to a stable representation of three dimensional motions of soft robots, under Piecewise Constant Curvature hypothesis. In turn, the equivalence between soft-bodied and rigid robots permits to derive effective adaptive controllers for soft-bodied robots, achieving perfect posture regulation under considerable errors in the knowledge of …