An adaptive fuzzy control approach for cooperative manipulators

We examine in this article the complex problem of simultaneous position and internal force control in multiple cooperative manipulator systems. This is done in the presence of unwanted parametric and modeling uncertainties as well as external disturbances. A decentralized adaptive fuzzy controller scheme is proposed here. The controller makes use of a multi-input multi-output fuzzy logic engine and a systematic online adaptation mechanism. Unlike conventional adaptive controllers, the proposed algorithm does not require a precise mathematical model of the system's dynamics nor does it require a linear parameterization of the system's uncertain physical parameters. The performance of the controller proposed is then compared to that of a well known conventional adaptive controller.