A suboptimal control scheme based on integrated real-time nonlinear estimation-identification approach for developed flexible joint manipulators structure

As the safety of human-robot interaction is of great interest in various applications, the flexibility of machine joints becomes increasingly important. In this paper, a general model is developed for electrically driven flexible-joint robots (ED-FJR), in which the coupled phenomena of stiffness-damping and friction in the joints are modeled as nonlinear and time-varying parameters. Because the output torque of the actuator mounted on the link cannot be measured, its state variables are estimated by the suboptimal estimator. Furthermore, the unknown parameters of joint flexibility are identified by the identification algorithm based on time-varying nonlinear least-squares error (TV-NLS), which are then used in the proposed control algorithm to compensate for negative effects and errors. The state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) method is developed in this paper using the combined estimator-identifier approach. The novel proposed method for a 3-degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) mechanical arm with electrically driven flexible joints is implemented and validated. The obtained results show that the system's performance has improved by 83% in terms of modeling accuracy. Furthermore, when compared to other methods, the proposed algorithm reduces tracking error by 59%, making it easier to reach the target point.