Reinforcement Learning-Based Backstepping Control for Container Cranes

Abstract

A novel backstepping control scheme based on reinforcement fuzzy Q-learning is proposed for the control of container cranes. In this control scheme, the modified backstepping controller can handle the underactuated system of a container crane. Moreover, the gain of the modified backstepping controller is tuned by the reinforcement fuzzy Q-learning mechanism that can automatically search the optimal fuzzy rules to achieve a decrease in the value of the Lyapunov function. The effectiveness of the applied control scheme was verified by a simulation in Matlab, and the performance was also compared with the conventional sliding mode controller aimed at container cranes. The simulation results indicated that the used control scheme could achieve satisfactory performance for step-signal tracking with an uncertain lope length.