Discrete-Time Framework for Fault Diagnosis in Robotic Manipulators

In this paper, a discrete-time framework for diagnosis of faults of joint sensors, wrist-mounted force/torque sensors, and actuators of robotic manipulators is devised. It is assumed that redundant joint sensor measurements are available. Sensor measurements, together with the estimates computed by two isolation observers, are processed by a decision-making system, providing detection and isolation of the faults of the joint sensors as well as healthy measurements. Then, healthy measurements are used to feed a bank of diagnostic observers aimed at detecting, isolating, and identifying faults of joint actuators and force/torque sensors. The framework is experimentally tested on a cooperative industrial setup, composed of two industrial robots with six degrees of freedom performing a cooperative task.