Automatic tuning of pneumatic servo actuators

The high power-to-weight ratio and low cost of pneumatic actuators makes th em attractive for robotics and automation applications; however, achieving fast, accurate position control with them is difficult. Furthermore, tuning the controller (and/or obtaining process models) requires extensive expert ise and time. In this paper, a novel automatic tuning methodology for the a ccurate position control of pneumatic servo actuators is described. The met hodology combines off-line model-based analysis with on-line iteration. Exp eriments performed on three actuators with distinct open-loop dynamics veri fied the auto-tuner's effectiveness. The auto-tuning required 1/50 of the t ime needed for manual tuning and only non-expert supervision. The performan ce of the auto-tuned actuators is comparable to that achieved by other rese archers using more complex and expensive hardware.