Gain-learning Sliding Mode Control of Robot Manipulators with Time-delay Estimation

In this paper, an adaptive robust controller for position tracking control of robot manipulators is proposed. To effectively approximate the system dynamics, a conventional time-delay estimator is employed. To realize the control objective, the controller is then designed based on a robust sliding mode scheme and incorporated with the estimation results obtained. To integrate the flexibility into the controller, a new gain-adaptive mechanism is adopted in which driving and robust control gains are freely varied to ensure asymptotic control performance. The stability and effectiveness of the proposed controller are verified using the Lyapunov-based approaches and simulation results.