Dual Adaptive Control of Bimanual Manipulation with Online Fuzzy Parameter Tuning

A biomimetic controller with online adaptation of impedance and force is applied to a full kinematic and dynamic model of the Baxter bimanual robot. A set of fuzzy logic engines are proposed to infer the values of tuning gains which affect the control performance and control effort of the controller, which would conventionally be set to a static value based on expert knowledge of the controller; the aim of this being to avoid the use of arbitary values to set these values. A simulated experiment is carried out, where the Baxter robot is required to move an object through a trajectory while subjected to two different disturbance forces in four phases. The controller with fuzzy inferred control gains is compared against the same controller with fixed gains to gauge the effectiveness of the new method. Results show that fuzzy inference of control gains impart an improvement in both tracking error and control effort.