Fuzzy PD plus I control of a six DOF robot manipulator

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to present the control of a six degrees of freedom (DOF) robot arm (PUMA robot) using fuzzy PD + I controller. Numerical simulation using the dynamic model of six DOF robot arm shows the effectiveness of the approach in trajectory tracking problems. Comparative evaluation with respect to PID and fuzzy PID controls are presented to validate the controller design. The results presented emphasize that a satisfactory tracking precision could be achieved using fuzzy PD + I controller combination than fuzzy PID controller. Design/methodology/approach - Control of a six DOF robot arm (PUMA Robot) using fuzzy PD + I controller. Findings - The performance of fuzzy PD + I controllers improves appreciably compared to their respective fuzzy PID only or conventional PID counterparts. Originality/value - Complexity of the proposed fuzzy PID controller is minimized as possible and only two design variables are used to adjust the rate of variations of the proportional gain and derivative gain.