Fractional Order Control of a Continuum Robot Arm

Abstract

This paper studies the dynamic model of the continuum robots as a fractional order system. The viscoelastic Kelvin-Voigt model is applied and a fractional order system is proposed and discussed. The distributed model is transformed in a nonlinear fractional order system by a weighting technique of the state variables. A control law defined with respect to direct observable variable, with a physical meaning, is proposed. A fractional order observer is proposed. The frequential criterions that ensure the asymptotical stability of the global model“observer-system“ are discussed. Numerical simulations and experimental results confirm the quality of the proposed algorithms.