REDUCED-ORDER OBSERVER-BASED POINT-TO-POINT AND TRAJECTORY CONTROLLERS FOR ROBOT MANIPULATORS

This paper presents a design procedure for a reduced-order observer-ba sed controller dedicated to n-joint robot manipulators. It is assumed that only the joint angular positions are measured. The joint angular velocities are estimated via an exponential reduced-order observer. Tw o types of control laws based on this observer are studied: point-to-p oint control with gravity compensation and trajectory control. Suffici ent conditions to ensure the closed-loop stability are given. Performa nces of the reduced-order observer used with these two control laws ar e illustrated in a simulation study of a two-degrees-of-freedom robot manipulator.