Joint torque control of flexible joint robots based on sliding mode technique

Abstract

For robots with flexible joints, the joint torque dynamics makes it difficult to control. An effective solution is to carry out a joint torque controller with fast enough dynamic response. This article is dedicated to design such a torque controller based on sliding mode technique. Three joint torque control approaches are proposed: (1) The proportional-derivative (PD)-type controller has some degree of robustness by properly selecting the control gains. (2) The direct sliding mode control approach which fully utilizes the physical properties of electric motors. (3) The sliding mode estimator approach was proposed to compensate the parameter uncertainties and the external disturbances of the joint torque system. These three joint torque controllers are tested and verified by the simulation studies with different reference torque trajectories and under different joint stiffness.