Control of Flexible Joint Manipulator via Variable Structure Rule-Based Fuzzy Control and Chaos Anti-Control with Experimental Validation

This paper presents a variable structure rule-based fuzzy control for trajectory tracking and vibration control of a flexible joint manipulator by using chaotic anti-control. Based on Lyapunov stability theory for variable structure control and fuzzy rules, the nonlinear controller and some generic sufficient conditions for global asymptotic control are attained. The fuzzy rules are directly constructed subject to a Lyapunov function obtained from variable structure surfaces such that the error dynamics of control problem satisfy stability in the Lyapunov sense. Also in this study, the anti-control is applied to reduce the deflection angle of flexible joint system. To achieve this goal, the chaos dynamic must be created in the flexible joint system. So, the flexible joint system has been synchronized to chaotic gyroscope system. In this study, control and anti-control concepts are applied to achieve the high quality performance of flexible joint system. It is tried to design a controller which is capable to satisfy the control and anticontrol aims. The performances of the proposed control are examined in terms of input tracking capability, level of vibration reduction and time response specifications. Finally, the efficacy of the proposed method is validated through experimentation on QUANSER’s flexible-joint manipulator.