Model-based control of robots including actuator dynamics

A model-based control method in which the model of the mechanical plant is augmented by the actuator dynamics is proposed. The reflex-action-position control method is expanded to fit the higher order dynamics. The control law has a third-order feed-forward term and feedback compensation for the errors in acceleration, rate, and position. Thus the governing equation in the error space is third order. The control is implemented through a recursive algorithm that can be customized for any given manipulator to reduce the computational load. As is the case with the second-order model, the number of computations in the recursive algorithm depends linearly on the number of degrees of freedom.