A centralized/decentralized approach to the robust control of a robotic manipulator

Abstract

This paper is concerned about solving the robust servomechanism problem for a rigid robotic manipulator for the case of set point reference inputs that tend to constant values. It is shown that by using a combination of centralized and decentralized control, this problem can be solved and global asymptotic stability of the closed loop system can be achieved, under a wide class of variations of the manipulator's load and dynamics. The implementation of the controller obtained only requires that an approximation of some of the manipulator's parameters be available. An example of a two link rigid robotic manipulator is included to illustrate the type of results obtained.