Sliding Mode Control of a Heavy Duty Dual Arm Robot with Hydraulic Systems to Improve Motion-Following Performance

Abstract

This paper presents the control implementation of a heavy-duty dual-arm robot, Accident Response Manipulator (ARMstrong), configured as teleoperated control by a master robot. The mater-slave configuration for remote operation in dangerous areas has been implemented. The master robot is an exoskeleton type such that an operator can wear it to control the slave. The slave robot is actuated by the hydraulic system, which generates high power but produces larger motion-tracking errors that suffer from nonlinearity. The dead zone of each joint is identified and compensated to improve motion-following performance after the master. Sliding mode control further improves the positional accuracy under unknown payloads. Experimental studies are conducted to demonstrate the position control performance of the ARMstrong slave robot.