Model-based Sliding Mode Control of Underwater Robot Manipulators

Abstract

In this paper, a model-based sliding mode control method is proposed for trajectory tracking of underwater robot manipulators. The proposed sliding mode controller is designed based on the dynamics of underwater manipulators. The controller in this paper has the advantages of precision and robustness, and it is easy to implement. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the controller, several experiments using a 3 degrees-of-freedom underwater manipulator are conducted in a test tank. The results show that the proposed controller provides high performance of trajectory tracking in the presence of uncertainties about the dynamics.