MPC control and LQ optimal control of a two-link robot arm: A comparative study

Abstract

This study examined the control of a planar two-link robot arm. The control approach design was based on the dynamic model of the robot. The mathematical model of the system was nonlinear, and thus a feedback linearization control was first proposed to obtain a linear system for which a model predictive control (MPC) was developed. The MPC control parameters were obtained analytically by minimizing a cost function. In addition, a simulation study was done comparing the proposed MPC control approach, the linear quadratic (LQ) control based on the same feedback linearization, and a control approach proposed in the literature for the same problem. The results showed the efficiency of the proposed method.