Neural Control of a Robotic Manipulator in Contact with a Flexible and Uncertain Environment

This article presents the synthesis of a neural motion control system of a robot caused by disturbances of constraints limiting the movement, which are the result of flexibility and disturbances of the contact surface. A synthesis of the control law is presented, in which the knowledge of the robot’s dynamics and the parameters of a susceptible environment is not required. Moreover, the stability of the system is guaranteed in the case of an inaccurately known surface of the environment. This was achieved by introducing an additional module to the control law in directions normal to the surface of the environment. This additional term can be interpreted as the virtual viscotic resistance and spring force acting on the robot. This approach ensured the self-regulation of the robot’s interaction force with the compliant environment, limiting the impact of the geometrical inaccuracy of the environment.