Attitude control based on fuzzy logic for continuum aircraft fuel tank inspection robot

Abstract

With a compliant structure and excellent bending properties, continuum robot has hyper-redundant degrees of freedom, and can be used in space-constrained environments as the aircraft fuel tank. Therefore, a continuum robot is designed to help crews inspect aircraft fuel tanks, which can improve maintenance efficiency and reduce the intensity of crews. According to the requirements of aircraft fuel tank inspection, the compliant and extensible drive mechanisms of the continuum robot are designed. The kinematic models of single joint segment and multi-joint segments of continuum robot are analyzed, and homogeneous transformation matrices are obtained. To improve control performance, a closed-loop fuzzy controller based on attitude feedback is proposed. The attitude sensor is installed on the top of each joint segment of a snake-like arm to form a closed-loop control system, and a fuzzy controller is designed to achieve fast and accurate control of the robot. The prototype platform of the continuum robot is built, and practical experiments are implemented on the platform. The effectiveness and stability of the fuzzy controller based on attitude feedback are verified.