Robust Control for Free-Joint Manipulators

This paper presents a robust control scheme of free-joint manipulators to overcome actuator failures and uncertain-ties in Cartesian space where tasks are planned. The control scheme has the adaptation law for the upper bound on the norm of uncertainties through the Lyapunov function approach. To solve the dynamic singularity problem in the controller, the singular and nonsingular regions are investigated based on a computer simulation. Then a singularity-free Cartesian trajectory planning is achieved in order to guarantee the availability of the control scheme. To illustrate the validity of the proposed control scheme, simulation results for a three-link planar robot arm with a free joint are shown.