Control of Closed Kinematic Chains Based on SPF Model without Velocity Measurements

In this paper, position control of a dual manipulator system for transporting a common payload is considered. In this regard, a centralized controller is designed for a reduced model developed based on a singularly perturbed formulation (SPF) which reduces the differentialalgebraic dynamic equations of the system to a set of ordinary differential equations. In this approach, the controller does not rely on solving nonlinear algebraic constraints and is more applicable to real-time implementation. At the same time, a linear observer is designed to estimate the joint velocities which leads to elimination of velocity sensors and prevents noise injection into the system which may degrade the system performance. Finally, stability of the system is proved by using Lyapunov theorem. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.