International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems 2007 Oct.

17-20,2007 in COEX, Seoul, Korea

Robust Nonlinear Observer for Flexible Joint Robot Manipulators with Only Motor Position Measurement
Jaeyoung Lee l, Tae Jun Hal, Je Sung Yeon l, Sanghun Lee 2 and Jong Hyeon Park l
1 Department

of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul,Korea (E-mail: jongpark@hanyang.ac.kr) 2Electro-Mechanical Research Institute, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Gyeonggi, Korea

Abstract: This paper proposes a design method of sliding mode observer for flexible joint robot manipulators. The proposed observer structure is the conventional Luenberger observer with additional switching element that is a role to attenuate system uncertainties and modeling errors. During sliding, the design method is that the nonlinear function due to system uncertainty in sliding mode observer is divides into the parameter distinction and estimation error elements by using the Lipschitz condition. From the design method, this paper proves relation of the asymptotical stability and robustness of overall system according to the positive nonlinear gain of switching element. The proposed observer accurately estimates the velocity and position of link side in the flexible joint robot using only motor position measurement. In the simulation result, the performance and robustness of proposed sliding mode observer is verified and compared with the high gain observer. Keywords: Robust Observer, Flexible Joint, Sliding Mode Observer, Nonlinear Observer.

1. INTRODUCTION
Many researchers have proposed observer design methods. Wang and Gao presented a comparison study of performances and characteristics of three advanced state observers, including high-gain observers, sliding mode observers and extended state observers [1]. These observers were originally proposed to address the dependence of the classical observers, such as the Kalman Filter and the Luenberger observer, on the accurate mathematical representation of the plant. The extended state observer is much superior than others in dealing with dynamic uncertainties, disturbances and sensor noise. Then, several novel nonlinear gain functions are proposed to address the difficulty in dealing with unknown initial conditions. Especially, the gain modification method for the nonlinear extended state observer is proposed to deal with the unknown initial conditions. As a representative observer for nonlinear system, the high gain observer is introduced by Khalil for the first time. The high gain observer robustly estimates the derivatives of output signal. Also, it is easy to apply to the observer structure for nonlinear systems and to prove stability and robustness with only a linear gain term. Similarly, the sliding mode observer can be easily applied to nonlinear systems in the presence of parameter uncertainties and initial condition difference of between the observer and the plant. Generally, the basic design method for sliding mode observer has proposed by Slotine and Hedrick [2]. It no clear guideline to apply to nonlinear systems. Also, there was no explanation about how to determine the nonlinear gain function. Then, Misawa and Hedrick propose a method for finding the nonlinear and linear gain matrix for linear systems [3]. The nonlinear function of sliding mode observer was designed from the model uncertainty and estimation error under the difference of between the observer and the plant. The design of positive gain function using the non978-89-950038-6-2-98560/07/$15 @ICROS

linear function is important to prove the stability and robustness of overall system. In the application case of nonlinear system, for examples, each value of positive nonlinear gain coefficients were selected by trial-and-error [4]. As mathematical method in designing gain, Gand and Kfoury proposed a concrete method for the positive nonlinear gain function [5]. The positive nonlinear gain function is defined as upper bounded value of parameter distinction and state error. They show the numerical result regardless of the differences in the initial conditions of between the plant and the observer. However, the proposed method did not accurately estimate the flexible motion in the presence of unstructured uncertainties of the flexible link system. Recently, Abdessameud and Khelfi proposed method which is developed to dealt with the application of a variable structure observer for a class of nonlinear systems to solve the trajectory tracking problem for rigid robot manipulators [6]. They propose an assumption that nonlinearities and uncertainties of system exists upper bounded function. It satisfies some matching conditions. But, the existence of bounded function which satisfies the matching condition is limited in application. This method is just to estimate the velocity information in the rigid robot. In this paper, we propose a design method that is based on the conventional Luenberger observer with additional switching element. The switching element is a role for attenuating system uncertainties and modeling errors to guarantee the robustness. The positive gain function for switching element is proposed by designing the upper bounded function of the parameter uncertainty and estimation error. During sliding from the sliding condition, the error dynamic is represented as the linear system with the nonlinear function. The nonlinear matrix inequality for system stability proof is designed as the positive nonlinear function which is consisted of the estimation error and bounded parameter distinction. In case of the max-

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imum size of the nonlinear function, this paper proves a relation of the asymptotically stable and robustness of overall system according to the positive nonlinear gain of switching element. The proposed method accurately estimates the velocity and position of link side in the exible joint robot using only measured angle position of motor. From the simulation result, the performance and robustness of proposed sliding mode observer is veried and compared with the high gain observer. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the theory of sliding mode observer. Section 3 is the application to the robot manipulators with joint exibility. The observer gain design method is dened in section 4. Section 5 is proved the asymptotically stable of proposed observer. Section 6 shows the estimation performance and the robustness of proposed observer from the simulation result and compared with the high gain observer. Section 7 is the conclusion.

Therefore, once the system is on sliding surface, i.e., s = 0, from Eqs. (7) and (10), the error dynamics becomes = (I K (CK )1 C )(f + A x(t)). (11) x

3. APPLICATION TO THE FLEXIBLE JOINT ROBOT MANIPULATORS

The dynamic of N-link exible joint robot manipulators is represented by (q ) = 0 )q + g(q) + K M (q) q + C (q, q ( q) = u, (12) J + K where q, Rn denote the link positions and the motor and J denote the inertia matrix angle, respectively; M, K and the joint stiffness matrix and the motor inertia ma ) denotes the matrix associated trix, respectively; C (q, q with Coriolis and Centrifugal acceleration and vector g denotes the gravitational term; and input u denotes the motor torque. With the denition of a state T T q q R4n , (13) x = x1 x 2 x 3 x 4 = the dynamic in Eq. (12) can be transform to a state-space representation: (t) = Ax(t) + f(x) + B u, x where 0 0 0 0 J 1 K 0 In 0 0 0 0 , 0 In (16) (14)

2. SLIDING-MODE OBSERVER
Consider the following nonlinear system: (t) = Ax(t) + f(x, t) + B u(t), x y(t) = C x(t), (1) (2)

where x(t) Rn , y(t) Rp and u(t) Rm are the state, the output, and the control input, respectively; B Rnm , A Rnn and C Rpn are the input matrix, linear matrix and output matrix, respectively. Nonlinear function f(x, ) is assumed to be continuous in x. Now, it is desired to reconstruct state x from the measurement y and u. The structure of sliding-mode observers proposed: (t) = A x x(t) + f( x, t) + B u Ls K sgn(s), (3) where L and K are the linear gain and the positive nonlinear gain, f() is an estimate on f(), and sliding variable s is dened by s := y y = C x. with estimation error x dened by x x. x= y = sgn(s1 ) ... sgn(sp )T Rp sgn(s) =

J 1 K A= 0 0 f(x) = and B= 0 J 1

(15)

x2 0 x3 + x4 (x1 x3 ) + x4 M (x3 )1 K M (x3 )1 (C (x3 , x4 ) + G(x3 )) 0 0

T

(4)

(17)

(5) (6)

with sign function sgn(). Then, from Eqs. (1) and (3), the error dynamics of the observer becomes (t) = A x x(t) + f Ls K sgn(s), (7)
f( x, t) f(x, t). For a positive-denite funcwhere f = T s s, if tion of V = 1 2

Since only the measurement of the motor side angle, , is available, y = x1 . With x2 )( J 1 K x1 (J 1 K x3 ) , (18) f( x) = x4 x3 + 1 M ( x3 ) K ( x3 ) + x4 x1 1 ( ( ( M x3 ) (C x3 , x4 ) + G x3 )) the nonlinear function is f = f(x, t) f(x, t) = f1 f2 f3 f4
T

. (19)

= sT s < ||s||, V

(8)

sliding occurs in a nite time. During the sliding, sliding variable s remains zero, i.e., s = 0, and thus from Eq. (7), = C (A s x(t) + f K sgn(s)) = 0, from which x(t)). sgn(s) = (CK )1 C (f + A (10) (9)

= x 1 , the dynamics of the error of the Note s = y observer is = A x x + f Ls K sgn(s), (20) where K = K1 L1 K2 L2 K3 L3 K4 L4
T T

R4nn , (21)

L =

R4nn .

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Equation (8) result in = sT s = sT (f1 L1 x1 K1 sgn(s)). V (22) Suppose Ki and Li for i = 1, 2, ..., n are further restricted by Ki = ki In and Li = li In (23) where In is the identify matrix of n-dimension. Then, Lyapunov stability condition of Eq. (8) is satised if x1 + | x2 |. k1 L1 (24) where is a positive constant gain. The switching term can be compelled the system to remain on the sliding surface in the side of model distinction and disturbance. In order to do that, k1 must be positive. Therefore, Eq. (24) has been represented 1 + L1 | x1 | + | x2 |. k (25)

When the system is located on the sliding surface, the Eq. (20) is represented by = C (A = C s x x + f Ls K sgn(s)) = 0. (26) Generally, x1 must be zero on the sliding surface. But, the system may be leave sliding surface because the system has parameter uncertainty and disturbance. Therefore, x1 x1 , sgn( has not zero. If ignoring the effects of l1 x1 ) can be represented as x). sgn( x1 ) = (CK )1 C (f + A (27)

where twist is a positive constants. Furthermore, the followings are assumed for exible joint robot manipulators. Propterty 3: The link inertia matrix M (q) is symmetric, positive denite, and both M (q) and M 1 (q) are uniformly bounded as follows: ||M (q)|| M and ||M 1 (q)|| I where M and I are positive constants. ) is uniformly Propterty 4: If suitably chosen, C (q, q bounded such that || || c ||q ||C (q, q where c is a positive constant. Propterty 5: The gravitational term g(q) is uniformly bounded such that ||g(q)|| g where g is a positive constant. is uniformly Propterty 6: The stiffness matrix K bounded as follows: where || K ||K is a positive constant. Consequently, the nonlinear observer gain can be dened as )(x1 J 1 K f2 = (J 1 K x3 ) 1 1 || + ||x1 x3 || ||J K J K f3 f4 = + + + + x1 x3 || + 2 := 1 ( x1 , x3 ), 1 || 3 || x3 || + 4 || x4 || + 3 + 4 := 2 ( x3 , x 4 ), 1 1 M ( x3 ) K ( x3 ) M ( x3 ) (C ( x3 , x4 ) x1 g( x3 )) + M (x3 )1 K (x3 x1 ) x4 M (x3 )1 (C (x3 , x4 )x4 + g(x3 )) + 1 1 x1 ||M ( x3 ) K ( x3 ) M ( x3 ) (C ( x3 , x4 ) x1 || g( x3 ))|| + I K ||x3 x4 || + 4 I | |x4 || + I G + ||

From the Eq. (26)and Eq. (27), the error vector equation becomes x x) (I G(CG) C )(f + A 0 0 0 0 0 1 )In 0 (k2 /k f2 0 0 = x+ (28) . 1 )In In 0 (k3 /k f3 0 1 )In 0 In f4 0 (k4 /k =
1

If the sate of the system is bounded, the positive gains can be set for stability of the observer despite the fact that the x3 and x4 is not available. information on x2 ,

4. GAINS
The pair (A, C ) is detectable, i.e., there exists a matrix L of appropriate dimensions such that the eigenvalue of A0 = A LC is completely positioned in the open left half-plane. Therefore, the linear gain matrix L can be assigned. In case of the nonlinear gain, which is assumed that system is stable and that the state variables are thus bounded. Propterty 1: With a stable controller for exible joint robot manipulators, ||xi || i for i = 1, 2, 3, 4. Propterty 2: From Property 1, and due to the limit in the torque generated by the motors and enough strength of the springs to withstand any torque generated by the motors, the twist angles at the spring elements and limited: ||x1 x3 || twist ,

5 || x1 x3 || + 6 || x4 ||2 + 7 := 3 ( x1 , x3 , x4 ), (29) where i for i = 1, ..., 7 is a positive constant gain, x1 , x3 ), 2 ( x3 , x4 ) and 3 ( x1 , x3 , x4 ) are upper bound 1 ( function of ||f2 ||, ||f3 || and ||f4 ||, respectively. Actually, the motor and link joint real velocity of system are bounded because the system is stable by the stable controller. The gain for k1 is 1 + |l1 k x1 | + | x2 |desired upper bound . (30) The unknown term x2 is selected to be the desired upper bound of estimation error x2 from the assumption. Similarly, nonlinear positive gain k2 , k3 and k4 are can be determined as follows 1 ( x1 , x3 ) 1 , k2 = k ( x2 )desired upper bound 2 ( x3 , x4 ) 1 k3 = k , ( x2 )desired upper bound x1 , x3 , x4 ) 1 3 ( k4 = k . (31) ( x2 )desired upper bound

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5. STABILITY
If the estimation state gain and constant gain in the positive nonlinear gain function are choose small value and large value, respectively, the overall system Eq. (28) on sliding surface can be represented as z(t) + ( t) = A z f. (32) where 2 In k 0 0 = k3 In In 0 , A 4 In 0 In k x 2 ( t) f2 x3 (t) and z ( t) = (33) f = f3 . f4 x4 (t) i for i = 2, ..., 4 is a constant is stable, k The matrix A value and f is the nonlinear function which represents parameter uncertainty and estimation error. The stability of overall system can be established by using V = zT P z as a Lyapunov function. Its derivative function is = 2z(t)T P z ( t) V T + 2z(t)T P f. (34) = 2z(t) P A The stability evaluation is presented in case of the maximum size of uncertainty f . Then, The nonlinear function fi for i = 2, ..., 4 can be represented as ) J 1 K x3 + w1 , (35) f2 = (J 1 K x2 + x3 + x4 , (36) f 3 = 1 1 ( (x1 x3 ) ( (x3 ) K x1 x3 ) K x3 ) M f4 = M +

After all, the following inequality is satised || x2i || ||w1i || x3i || + 2zT P W (W := 0 ) 2zT P H || || x4i || ||w2i || 2zT P H z + W T P T P W + zT z (P W z)2 , (43) where H is the positive constant symmetric matrix. Now, the Lyapunov function Eq. (34) is represented as + 2z(t)T P H z(t) + 2z(t)T P W 2z(t)T P A V +A T P + P H + I )z(t) = z(t)T (P A + (P W )2 (P W z(t))2 min (Q)||z(t)||2 + max (P 2 )W 2 . (44) LMI solver minimize following inequality and determine positive constant matrix P and Q. + P H + I + Q 0. T P + P A (45) A Matrix A which is consisted of the positive nonlinear constant gain. it relate with the optimal solution P and Q. The proper P and Q can be selected by changing the positive nonlinear constant gain value. The optimal solution P does not effect to the observer system. But, it just gives the conrmation for asymptotical stability whether the positive nonlinear constant gain is a right or not. The disturbance vector is the parameter distinction and also bounded constant value. Therefore, the proposed observer in during sliding becomes dissipative system and asymptotically stable with W = 0. If the positive constant optimal matrix Q has the sufciently large value than the parameter distinction W , the proposed design method guarantees the robust performance.

(x3 )1 C (x3 , x4 ) M (x3 )1 C (x3 , x4 ))x4 (M (x3 )1 G (x3 ) M (x3 )1 G(x3 )). + (M (38) Each element of f4 (t, x) is piecewise continuous in t. Therefore, f4 (t, x) satisfy the Lipschitz condition as like ||f(t, x) f(t, x)|| H || x x||, (39) where H is the positive constant matrix. Therefore, The parameter uncertainty of N-link exible joint robot can be consisted as following inequality f2 f f3 (40) f4 +
T

(x3 )1 C ( (x3 , x4 )x4 M ( (M x3 )1 C x4 ) x4 ) x3 , 1 1 (x 3 ) G (x3 ) M ( ( + (M x3 )) + w2 , (37) x3 ) G where the parameter distinction w1 and w2 are bounded functions as following that: )(x1 x3 ), J 1 K w1 = (J 1 K (x1 x3 ) M (x3 )1 K (x3 )1 K (x1 x3 ) w2 = M

6. SIMULATIONS
The performance and robustness of proposed sliding observer are veried against the parameter uncertainty and compared with the high gain observer. The simulation executes the 2-DOF robot manipulators with joint exibility. The two links are paralleled to the surface of land straightly at the initial pose. The rst joint moves 180 degree in counterclockwise. The second joint moves 90 degree in counterclockwise. Table I shows the nominal values of the physical parameters of the 2-DOF robot manipulators with joint exibility. Table II indicates the observer structure. SMO1 is the Sliding Mode Observer Table 1 Physical parameters for the robot manipulators with joint exibility Symbol m1 m2 l1 l2 Dimension 6 kg 4 kg 0.3 m 0.3 m Symbol lc1 lc2 k1 k2 Dimension 0.15 m 0.15 m 1500 Nm/rad 1200 Nm/rad

where fj = ||fji ||, ..., ||fjn || for i = 1, 2, ..., n and j = 2, 3, 4 is vector matrix and . Therefore, the each norm is x3i || + ||w1i ||, ||f2i || = h1 In || x2i || + h3 In || x3i || + h4 In || x4i ||, ||f3i || = h2 In || x3i || + h6 In || x4i || + ||w2i ||. (41) ||f4i || = h5 In || Then, Eq. (40) is arranged as 0 || x2i || 0 h1 In ||w1i || x3i || + 0 . (42) f h2 In h3 In h4 In || 0 h5 In h6 In || x4i || ||w2i ||

which has the dynamic equation while SMO2 consider only linear element in the observer structure. HGO is the High Gain Observer which is consisted of the Luenherger observer. The estimation performance of proposed observer is shown in the Fig. 1(A). The rst, second, estimated rst and estimated second link joint are dot, solid, dash dot and dash line, respectively. The Fig. 1(B) shows

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Table 2 Observer Structure

3

x 10

15

JT #1 JT #2

Observers SMO1 SMO2 HGO

180 160 140 Joint Angle (degrees) 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 20 0

Structure = A x x + f( x) + B u + LC x + K sgn( x1 ) x = A x + B u + LC x + K sgn( x1 ) = A x x + B u + LC x

3 4

0 s

3 x 10

4
12

A. Phase Portrait
0.1
Real JT #1 Real JT #2 Estimated JT #1 Estimated JT #2

JT #1 (SMO1) JT #2 (SMO1)

Joint Angle Estimation Error (degrees)

0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08

0.5

1.5 Time (s)

2.5

A. Estimation
x 10
10

JT #1 JT #2 Joint Angle Estimation Error (degrees)

0.5

0.1 0

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04 0.05 Time (s)

0.06

0.07

0.08

0.09

B. Estimation Error
0

Fig. 2 Link Joint Angle (SMO1).

0.5

0.5

1.5 Time (s)

2.5

B. Estimation Error

Fig. 6 shows the estimation performance in comparison of observers about the sine input. In high speed level of motor side, the proposed observer is better estimation performance than others.

Fig. 1 Link Joint Angle (SMO1).

7. CONCLUSION
the link joint estimation error.It is close to real state. The Fig. 2(A) shows the phase portrait of proposed observer. It is converged to the zero and the sliding mode observer is located on the sliding surface.In case of the Fig. 2(B), the system maintains the rst pose and disturbance input 100Nm at 0.05 sec. In the Fig. 2(B), The observer system has a relatively small linear gain than the large positive nonlinear gain. Then, the observer system is hardly any inuenced by the disturbance. The Fig. 3 shows the comparison of other observers. The sliding mode observers with the dynamic equation is shown the good estimation performance as compare with HGO and SMO2. Relatively, considering the dynamic equation has better estimation performance than SMO2. The Fig. 5 shows the robustness comparison of observers about the disturbance input and the sliding mode observer is more convergence than the high gain observer at the second link joint. Because, the joint exibility has more inuence to the end link. So, there are shown the similar convergence at the rst link joint. But, at the second link joint, the sliding mode observer has shown roughly twice as much as the faster converging and smaller amplitude than the high gain observer. The Fig. 4 shows the estimation performance of proposed observer about the sine input. The The paper proposes a design method of sliding-mode observer for the exible joint robot manipulators. The proposed method proved to be asymptotical stability on during sliding and the robust performance using the positive nonlinear gain function. From the simulation result, the proposed sliding observer has better performance than the high gain observer.

REFERENCES
[1] W. Wang and Z. Gao, A Comparison Study of Advanced State Observer Design Techiques, American Control Conference, Vol. 6, pp. 4754-4759, 2003. [2] J. J. E. Slotine, J. K. Hedrick and E. Misawa, On Sliding Observers for Nonlinear Systems, A.S.M.E. J. Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, Vol. 109, pp. 245-252, 1987. [3] E. A. Misawa and J. K. Hedrick, Nonlinear observers - A State-of-the-Art Survey, A.S.M.E. J. Dynamic Systems, Masurment, and Control, Vol. 111, pp. 344-352, 1989 [4] C. Unsal and P. Kachroo, Sliding Mode Measurement Feedback Control for Antilock Braking Sys-

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4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3

x 10

Joint Angle Estimation Error (degrees)

Joint Angle Estimation Error (degrees)

JT #1 (SMO1) JT #1 (SMO2) JT #1 (HGO)

0.1 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Time (s) 0.06

JT #1 (SMO1) JT #1 (SMO2) JT #1 (HGO)

4 0

0.07

0.08

0.09

0.5

1.5 Time (s)

2.5

3
0.1

(Joint 1)
0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Time (s) 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 JT #2 (SMO1) JT #2 (SMO2) JT #2 (HGO)

(Joint 1)
JT #2 (SMO1) JT #2 (SMO2) JT #2 (HGO)
Joint Angle Estimation Error (degrees)

2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

x 10

Joint Angle Estimation Error (degrees)

2 0

0.5

1.5 Time (s)

2.5

(Joint 2)

Fig. 5 Link Joint Angle Estimation Error.

(Joint 2)

Fig. 3 Link Joint Angle Estimation Error.

0.15
800 Real JT #1 Real JT #2 Estimated JT #1 Estimated JT #2

Joint Angle Estimation Error (degrees)

JT #1 (SMO1) JT #1 (SMO2) JT #1 (HGO) 0.1

600 Joint Angle (degrees)

400

0.05

200

0.05

200

400 0

0.5

1.5 Time (s)

2.5

0.1 0

0.5

1.5 Time (s)

2.5

Fig. 4 Link Joint Angle Estimation.

Joint Angle Estimation Error (degrees)

(Joint 1)
0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0 JT #2 (SMO1) JT #2 (SMO2) JT #2 (HGO)

[5]

[6]

[7]

tems, IEEE Control Systems Society, Vol.7 No. 2, pp. 271-281, 1999. N. G. Chalhoub and G. A. Kfoury, Development of a Robust Nonlinear Observer for a Single-Link Flexible Manipulator, Nonlinear Dynamics, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 217-233, 2005. Abdessameud, A. and KhelI, M. F., A Variable Structure Observer for The Control of Robot Manipulators, Int. J. Appl. Math. Comput. Sci., Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 189-196, 2006. H. K. Khalil, Nonlinear Systems, Prentice Hall, 2002.

0.5

1.5 Time (s)

2.5

(Joint 2)

Fig. 6 Link Joint Angle Estimation Error.

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