Comparative experiments with a new adaptive controller for robot arms

Abstract

A model-based adaptive controller and proof of its global asymptotic stability with respect to the standard rigid-body model of robot-arm dynamics are presented. Experimental data from a study of one new and several established globally asymptotically stable adaptive controllers on two very different robot arms: (1) demonstrate the superior tracking performance afforded by the model-based algorithms over conventional PD control; (2) demonstrate and compare the superior performance of adaptive model-based algorithms over their nonadaptive counterparts; (3) reconcile several previous contrasting empirical studies; and (4) examine contexts that compromise their advantage.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>