Constraint-Following Servo Control for the Trajectory Tracking of Manipulator with Flexible Joints and Mismatched Uncertainty

Trajectory tracking is a common application method for manipulators. However, the tracking performance is hard to improve if the manipulators contain flexible joints and mismatched uncertainty, especially when the trajectory is nonholonomic. On the basis of the Udwadia–Kalaba Fundamental Equation (UKFE), the prescribed position or velocity trajectories are creatively transformed into second-order standard differential form. The constraint force generated by the trajectories is obtained in closed form with the help of UKFE. Then, a high-order fractional type robust control with an embedded fictitious signal is proposed to achieve practical stability of the system, even if the mismatched uncertainty exists. Only the bound of uncertainty is indispensable, rather than the exact information. A leakage type of adaptive law is proposed to estimate such bound. By introducing a dead-zone, the control will be simplified when the specific parameter enters a certain area. Validity of the proposed controller is verified by numerical simulation with two-link flexible joint manipulator.