Variable structure synchronized control of multi-manipulator robots

Abstract

In this work, the variable structure control is proposed as a robust control technique to achieve synchronized control of multi-manipulators. The designed controller is robust to model parameters uncertainties, besides, it ensures simultaneous convergence of the synchronization and the position tracking errors. The construction of the sliding manifold using a dynamic compensators is used as a mean to encompass the synchronization errors, expressed in a cross coupling fashion, and the position tracking errors. The proposed controller makes all the manipulators reach their respective sliding mode in a finite time and achieve a global asymptotic convergence. A simulation study is carried out on three manipulator robots in order to show the efficiency of the proposed controller. The designed controller can be implemented in a decentralized manner and its parameters are easy to tune. The obtained results show satisfactory performance where robots track a nonlinear trajectory and synchronize with each other successfully.