Adaptive fuzzy force control of manipulators with unknown environment parameters

Abstract

This article proposes an adaptive fuzzy control scheme for explicit force control of a robot manipulator in contact with an environment whose parameters are unknown and vary considerably. The scheme consists of three main components: a reference force model describing the desired behavior of the force control system, a fuzzy force controller that determines the adjustment to the position control loop, and a fuzzy learning and adaptation mechanism that modifies the fuzzy force controller according to the difference between the actual and desired force responses. The modification is performed by shifting and contracting/expanding the membership functions of the fuzzy sets associated with the consequent rules of the fuzzy force controller. It is demonstrated, through simulations of a two-link manipulator and a 6-DOF industrial robot, that the scheme is capable force tracking despite wide parameter variations, such as when the environment stiffness changes by several orders of magnitude. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.