Control and physical verification of 6-DOF manipulator for power inspection robots based on expert PID algorithm

To enhance the performance of power inspection robots in intricate nuclear power stations, it is necessary to improve their response speed and accuracy. This paper uses the manipulator of the power inspection robot as the primary research object, and unlike previous control algorithm research, which only remained in the software simulation stage, we constructed a set of physical verification platforms based on CAN communication and physically verified the robotic arm’s control algorithm. First, the forward motion model is established based on the geometric structure of the manipulator and D-H parameter method, and the kinematic equation of the manipulator is solved by combining geometric method and algebraic method. Secondly, in order to conduct comparison tests, we designed PID controllers and expert PID controllers by utilising the expertise of experts. The results show that compared with the traditional PID algorithm, the expert PID algorithm has a faster response speed in the control process of the manipulator. It converges quickly in 0.75 s and has a smaller overshoot, with a maximum of only 6.9%. This confirms the expert PID algorithm’s good control effect on the robotic arm, allowing the six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm to travel more accurately and swiftly along the trajectory of the target point.