Motion Control of a Soft-Actuated Modular Manipulator

Soft pneumatic actuators can allow robotic manipulators to interact safely in complex environments in close proximity to humans, but work still needs to be done controlling them more effectively. We explore this area by introducing a 2-degree of freedom (DoF) universal joint module actuated by three reverse Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (rPAMs) and an associated geometric Jacobian-enhanced iterative sliding mode controller. After demonstrating the effectiveness of this controller, we combine two of these modules to form a 4-DoF soft actuated manipulator. To control this modular manipulation system, we propose two controllers: a direct inverse kinematic (IK) controller and an end-effector geometric Jacobian controller. Though both controllers were validated to function effectively, the Jacobian controller was more precise (especially under payload) while the IK controller was more accurate.