An adaptive manipulator controller based on force and parameter estimation

Consideration of manipulator dynamics and external disturbances in robot control system design can enhance the stability and performance properties of the whole system. In this paper, we present an approach to solve the control problem when the inertia parameters of robot are unknown, and at the same time robot is subjected to external force disturbances. This approach is based on simultaneous estimation of force signal and inertia parameters and utilizing them in the control law. The update laws and the control law are derived based on a single time-varying Lyapunov function, so that the global convergence of the tracking error is ensured. A theorem with a detailed proof is presented to guarantee the global uniform asymptotic stability of the whole system. Some simulations are made for a number of external forces to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.