A study on simple adaptive control of flexible-joint robots considering motor dynamics

Since the flexible joint robots with motor dynamics are represented by the fifth-order nonlinear system, it is difficult and complex to design the controller for electrically driven flexible-joint (EDFJ) robots. In this paper, we propose a simple adaptive control method to solve this problem. It is assumed that the model uncertainties of the robots dynamics, joint flexibility, and motor dynamics are unknown. For the simple control design, the dynamic surface design method is applied, and all uncertainties in the robot and motor dynamics are compensated by using the adaptive function approximation technique. It is proved that all signals in the controlled closed-loop system are uniformly ultimately bounded. Simulation results for three-link EDFJ manipulators are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control system.