A Simple Robust Control Scheme for Robot Manipulators With Only Joint Position Measurements

Abstract

In this article, it is shown that the point-to-point motion con trol of rigid robot manipulators can be achieved by a simple fixed control law that requires only the measurements of the joint positions, unlike most robot motion control, in which joint velocities are invariably needed. Apart from some commonly used assumptions about the manipulator dynamic equation, the control scheme can dispense with any modeling information and yet achieve global stability. Moreover (if the joint config uration is free from singularity), the control strategy can also be used in task space control without any extra technical diffi culty, except for the on-line calculation of the Jacobian matrix. The robustness property of the control law against parasitic dynamics from the driving system is discussed.