A Trajectory Tracking Control of a Robot Actuated with Pneumatic Artificial Muscles Based on Hysteresis Compensation

Abstract

This paper presents a new trajectory tracking control strategy for a novel lower-limb rehabilitant robot, AirGait, which is a parallel mechanism with three degrees of freedom and is actuated with four pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs). Compared with the existing control methods, the feature of this approach is that it combines the feedforward/feedback (FF) controller based on the length-pressure hysteresis compensation of PAMs with a joint space control method on the trajectory tracking control of a parallel mechanism. For the controller design, the inverse and forward kinematic formulas of AirGait are developed firstly based on the structure analysis. Then, a lower-limb kinematic model of humans is developed and the human-like trajectory of time is obtained by using a Fourier series method. Finally, the control scheme is introduced and the trajectory tracking control of AirGait with two reference input signals is presented. The comparative experimental results indicate that the performance of this control approach is strong and this robot holds great promise for assisting lower-limb locomotion.