Model Reference Adaptive Control Method for Dielectric Elastomer Material-Based Intelligent Actuator

This article presents a model reference adaptive control method (MRACM) for the high-precision tracking control of a dielectric elastomer material-based intelligent actuator (DEMIA). First, a dynamics model of the DEMIA is established to delineate its complex nonlinear behaviors. Second, a feed-forward inverse compensation control method (FICCM) is proposed to compensate for the nonlinear behaviors of the DEMIA, so as to preliminarily achieve its tracking control. Third, due to the fact that model uncertainties and external disturbances are inescapable in practical applications, a MRACM based on the established nominal model of the DEMIA is further presented to improve the tracking control performance. The stability of the entire control system is proved via the Lyapunov method. In the end, a series of tracking control experiments with different multifrequency expected trajectories are executed to illustrate the validity of the proposed control methods. The root-mean-square errors of all control experiment results are less than 2.8%, which reflects that the proposed MRACM is distinguished from a practical application perspective.