Precision Tracking of Industrial Manipulators via Adaptive Nonsingular Fixed-Time Sliding Mode Control

Abstract

This paper presents a novel adaptive fixed-time sliding mode control (AFxTSMC) framework for industrial manipulators. The proposed adaptive reaching law (ARL) enables rapid and stable gain reduction by leveraging the current parameter values to maintain positivity and prevent sign reversals, thereby reducing chattering. Additionally, the ARL guarantees fixed-time convergence. A singularity-free fixed-time sliding function (SF-FxTSF) ensures fast, robust, and singularity-free convergence. To enhance robustness, a modified third-order sliding mode observer (TOSMO) is integrated into the control framework. This observer estimates both internal uncertainties and external disturbances with improved estimation speed, enabling effective compensation while maintaining convergence performance. A Lyapunov-based analysis rigorously confirms the stability of the proposed method. Simulations of the SAMSUNG FARA AT2 manipulator indicate superior tracking accuracy, faster convergence, and smoother control performance compared to the three state-of-the-art methods. These results underscore the proposed method’s advantages as a robust, scalable, and high-performance control solution for industrial robotic systems.