Robust continuous third-order finite time sliding mode controllers for exoskeleton robot

Abstract

In this work, continuous third-order sliding mode controllers are presented to control a five degrees-of-freedom (5-DOF) exoskeleton robot. This latter is used in physiotherapy rehabilitation of upper extremities. The aspiration is to assist the movements of patients with severe motor limitations. The control objective is then to design adept controllers to follow desired trajectories smoothly and precisely. Accordingly, it is proposed, in this work, a class of homogeneous algorithms of sliding modes having finite-time convergence properties of the states. They provide continuous control signals and are robust regardless of non-modeled dynamics, uncertainties and external disturbances. A comparative study with a robust finite-time sliding mode controller proposed in literature is performed. Simulations are accomplished to investigate the efficacy of these algorithms and the obtained results are analyzed.