Adaptive sliding mode control with gravity compensation: Application to an upper-limb exoskeleton system

Abstract

This paper presents a robust control algorithm with gravity compensation in presence of parametric uncertainties. The application deals with an upper limb exoskeleton system, aimed for a rehabilitation application. The treated system is an robot with two degrees of freedom acting on the flexion / extension movement of the shoulder and elbow. An adaptive sliding mode algorithm with gravity compensation has been developed to control the upper limb exoskeleton system. A Stability study is realized. Then, a robustness analysis in the presence of parametric uncertainties using Monte Carlo simulation is developed. To prove the performance of the gravity compensation approach, a comparison study is done. Simulation results are presented to highlight the performances and the effectiveness of the proposed controller using gravity compensation.