On trajectory tracking control of fluid-driven actuators

Abstract Fluid-driven actuators are not only well-established in automation, but also a promising drive technology for collaborative robots. Their inherent compliance due to the compressibility of suitable fluids such as air, as well as their direct drive properties are advantageous safety features for human-machine collaboration. In this work, we provide an overview of different fluid-driven manipulators, namely fluidic muscle actuated ones, continuum manipulators, and those with rotary joints. For the latter, we introduce the mathematical model including mechanics and pressure dynamics and describe its properties such as strong nonlinearities, which make trajectory tracking control challenging. A model-based nonlinear cascaded controller is presented. Experimental results on a 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) prototype demonstrate the resulting trajectory tracking performance.