An adaptive backstepping nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control for robust fault tolerant control of robot manipulators

Abstract

This paper develops a novel control methodology for tracking control of robot manipulators based on a novel adaptive backstepping nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control (ABNFTSMC). In this approach, a novel backstepping nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode controller (BNFTSMC) is developed based on an integration of integral nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode surface and a backstepping control strategy. The benefits of this approach are that the proposed controller can preserve the merits of the integral nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control (NFTSMC) in terms of high robustness, fast transient response, and finite-time convergence, as well as backstepping control strategy in terms of globally asymptotic stability based on Lyapunov criterion. However, the major limitation of the proposed BNFTSMC is that its design procedure is dependent on the prior knowledge of the bound value of the disturbance and uncertainties. In order to overcome this limitation, an adaptive technique is employed to approximate the upper bound value; yielding an ABNFTSMC is recommended. The proposed controller is then applied for tracking control of a PUMA560 robot and compared with other state-of-the-art controllers, such as computed torque controller, PID controller, conventional PID-based sliding mode controller, and NFTSMC. The comparison results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed approach.