Special Issue Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2016, Vol. 8(4) 1–15
Ó The Author(s) 2016
Adaptive robust trajectory tracking DOI: 10.1177/1687814016641914
aime.sagepub.com
control of a parallel manipulator driven
by pneumatic cylinders

Ce Shang1, Guoliang Tao1 and Deyuan Meng2

Abstract
Due to the compressibility of air, non-linear characteristics, and parameter uncertainties of pneumatic elements, the
position control of a pneumatic cylinder or parallel platform is still very difficult while comparing with the systems driven
by electric or hydraulic power. In this article, based on the basic dynamic model and descriptions of thermal processes, a
controller integrated with online parameter estimation is proposed to improve the performance of a pneumatic cylinder
controlled by a proportional valve. The trajectory tracking error is significantly decreased by applying this method.
Moreover, the algorithm is expanded to the problem of posture trajectory tracking for the three-revolute prismatic
spherical pneumatic parallel manipulator. Lyapunov’s method is used to give the proof of stability of the controller. Using
NI-CompactRio, NI-PXI, and Veristand platform as the realistic controller hardware and data interactive environment,
the adaptive robust control algorithm is applied to the physical system successfully. Experimental results and data analysis
showed that the posture error of the platform could be about 0.5%–0.7% of the desired trajectory amplitude. By inte-
grating this method to the mechatronic system, the pneumatic servo solutions can be much more competitive in the
industrial market of position and posture control.

Keywords
Pneumatic servo control, parallel mechanism, adaptive robust control, trajectory tracking, non-linear analysis, online
parameter estimation

Date received: 13 January 2016; accepted: 29 February 2016

Academic Editor: Zheng Chen

Introduction controller based on back-stepping method and obtained

better performance.
It is well known that there are three major driving types With the developments of parallel mechanism the-
of position servo controls, which are electric, hydraulic, ories, the parallel platforms driven by electric motors
and pneumatic. Due to the linear characteristics and or hydraulic cylinders have been successfully
stiffness advantage, higher precision can be obtained
using electric or hydraulic cylinders and valves when 1
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang
comparing with the pneumatic ones. But since the com- University, Hangzhou, China
pressed air is a low-cost and clean energy, it is still 2
School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and
attracting researchers to study on pneumatic position Technology, Xuzhou, China
servo control and improve the precision. Compared
Corresponding author:
with feedback linearization,1,2 robust H-N control,3 Ce Shang, State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems,
self-tuning control,4 sliding mode control (SMC),5 and Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
fuzzy control,6 M Smaoui et al.7 proposed a robust Email: czesh@zju.edu.cn

Creative Commons CC-BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
(http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without
further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/
open-access-at-sage).
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016
2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
industrialized, especially in the fields of motion simula-
tion and robotic applications, such as 6-degrees of free-
dom (DOFs) Stewart platform and Delta robot. Some
of these platforms were driven by pneumatic elements.
K Grewal et al.8 established a pneumatic parallel sys-
tem used linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller.
The control schemes experimental results showed LQG
giving slightly better performance.9 M Ramsauer
et al.10 proposed a pneumatically driven Stewart plat-
form used as fault detection device. J Pradipta et al.11
used immersion and invariance method with an addi-
tional friction compensator applied for motion control.
Generally, the control errors were no smaller than 5%.
B Andrievsky et al.12 described the design features of
pneumatic platform for driving simulator while using
SMC and switching valves. Simulation results of SMC
was about 5% and the experimental results of on-off
logic control was about 20%. However, for the most
ordinary pneumatic cylinders with typical friction prop-
erties and their applications, which are used most
widely in the industrial systems, some studies still have
to be done about the servo control algorithm.
Meanwhile, some insufficient DOF systems which have
the freedoms of roll, pitch, and heave have been used in the
motion simulators and virtual reality equipment industry.
One of them is three-revolute prismatic spherical (3-RPS)
manipulator and lots of extensive studies have been done
in the past years.13–15 For the dynamic modeling and con-
trol methods studies, G Pfreundschuh et al.16 presented the
mechanics, design, proportional-derivative (PD) control,
and experiment results for a 3-RPS platform. YM Cheng
and YS Chen17 investigated an angle trajectory tracking of
a 3-DOF pneumatic motion platform, and fuzzy system
was used in the trajectory pre-compensation. The angle tra-
jectory following error was about 10%. However, the
5%  10% relative position/angle tracking error for a
manipulator driven by pneumatic cylinders makes it impos-
sible to compete with hydraulic or electric ones.
Adaptive robust control algorithm was first proposed
in 1990s by B Yao and M Tomizuka.18,19 Then, this the-
ory has been fully developed by the presented indirect
adaptive robust control (ARC),20 integrated direct/indi-
rect ARC,21 and synthesis-based ARC.22 The applica-
tions of these algorithms are quite successful on the
studies about linear motor high accuracy control,23,24
hydraulic systems,25 and vehicle active suspension sys-
tems.26,27 In the field of pneumatic servo control system,
X Zhu et al.28–30 and G Tao and H Zuo31 used pneu-
matic muscle to obtain a much higher performance by
applying ARC. The modeling research of pneumatic
muscle also attracts some researchers to establish a more
accurate model of this element.32 However, the pneu-
matic muscle can only bear one-directional tensile force,
which means it cannot be used in heavy load conditions
under compression forces. Recently, D Meng et al.33
proposed an adaptive robust method to control a low-
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016
friction pneumatic cylinder with 25 mm diameter and 1/
8# proportional valve, which got an adequate perfor-
mance. Indirect ARC can improve the parameter estima-
tion accuracy and direct/indirect ARC can also improve
the transient performance with the fast switching output
feature for proportional valves with dead zones.
However, for the pneumatic manipulator used as the
motion simulator, the vibration caused by the switching
characteristic might be a disadvantage. So, to overcome
the strong non-linearities and parameters uncertainties
of pneumatic manipulator driven by cylinders and inhi-
bit the probabilities, indirect adaptive robust control
should be an effective approach in this case.
In this article, an adaptive robust controller is pro-
posed to achieve much higher precision based on the
back-stepping method. First, the modeling of the pneu-
matic servo system of single cylinder is introduced.
Then, online parameter estimation methods for single
cylinder system are discussed in the next section, as well
as the proof of stability. In section ‘‘Parallel
system structure and analysis,’’ the kinematic analysis
of the 3-RPS mechanism is demonstrated and the con-
troller is expanded to the conditions of parallel trajec-
tory control. Experimental results on different
conditions are shown in sections ‘‘Single cylinder con-
trol experiments’’, ‘‘3-RPS manipulator posture control
experiments,’’ and ‘‘Performance analysis and conclusion.’’
Modeling of single cylinder system
The single cylinder servo system considered in this article
is shown in Figure 1. A cylinder attached with a position
sensor is connected to a proportional valve. The control-
ler hardware is based on NI-cRIO system. In order to
simplify the descriptions of modeling and controller
design, some of the key symbols are listed in Table 1.
According to the coordinate established in Figure 2,
equation (1) can be used to describe the piston motion
and Stribeck friction model
M€x = (pa  ka pb )Aa  Ff  FL + fn + ~f 0
Ff = Af Sf (_x) + b_x ð1Þ
ka = Ab =Aa
According to Carneiro and De Almeida’s34 and
Meng et al.’s35 research results, considering the thermo-
dynamic process in the chamber as polytropic process
is more accurate
8  n1
>
> pi n
>
> T = T , pbal = 0:8077ps
>
>
i s
pbal
<
dpi gR ð2Þ
> = ðm_ iin Ts  m_ iout Ti Þ i = a, b
>
> dt Vi
>
> gpi dVi g1 _
>
: + Qi + din + d~i0
Vi dt Vi
Shang et al. 3

Figure 1. Schematic diagram and physical picture of single cylinder position control system.

Table 1. Key symbols used in the model and controller.

Symbol Description

M Mass of the piston rod and load

Aa , Ab Piston area of each chamber
Va , V b Volume of each chamber
V0a , V0b Dead volume of each chamber
Ta , T b Air temperature of each chamber
pa , pb Air pressure of each chamber
ka Area fixing ratio for one-side rod cylinder
fn , ~f0 Modeling force error and disturbance
dn , ~d0 Modeling flow rate error and disturbance
Af Amplitude of friction model
Sf (_x) Stribeck curve
FL Load force applied on the piston
b Damping coefficient
m _ iout
_ iin , m Input, output mass flow rate
Q_ i Heat exchange rate of each chamber
u Unknown parameters factor
ai , n i Fading and normalized factor
ti Adaptive function
½z1 , z2 , z3 T Error vector Figure 2. 3-RPS parallel platform structure.
pe First-level virtual input
ped Expected first-level virtual input of the valve core can be ignored. The valve model in
qe Second-level virtual input equation (3) is established to calculate the mass flow
qed Expected second-level virtual input under different input conditions
8 pffiffiffiffiffi
>
< A(u)Cd Ca Pu = Tp u Pd =Pu  pr
where heat exchange rate Q_ i = hShi (x)(Ts  Ti ), heat ffiffiffiffiffi
qm = A(u)Cd Ca Cb Pu = Tu pr \Pd =Pu \l
exchange area Shi (x) = 2Ai + pD(L=2 + x), and cham- >
: pffiffiffiffiffi
bers volumes Vi = V0i + Ai (L=2 + x). h is the thermal A(u)Cd Ca Cc Pu = Tu l  Pd =Pu  1
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
conductivity of air and inner surface of cylinder cham- Ca = ðg=RÞð2=ðg + 1ÞÞ(g + 1)=(g1)
ber, Shi (x) is the area of heat conduction, and ps is the qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð3Þ
air source pressure. R is the ideal gas constant and l is Cb = 1  ðPd =Pu  pr Þ2 =ð1  pr Þ2
linear flow ratio that has the constant value 1.4. D is sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 ffi
the cylinder chambers’ diameter and L is the stroke. Ts ðPd =Pu  pr Þ ðl  pr Þ 2
Cc = 1
is the air source temperature. Since the natural fre- ð1  lÞ ð1  pr Þ
quency of MPYE valve is much higher than the band-
Cd = 1:099  0:1075Pd =Pu
width of pneumatic servo system, the dynamic features

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

8
where Pd and Pu are downstream pressure and > ^ 2 Bu = fu
u(t) ^ : umin  u
^  umax g
>
>
upstream pressure, respectively, qm is the calculated >
> 8t
>
< ^ T
mass flow rate, pr is critical pressure ratio, and Tu is the ½u  u ½C1 Pru^ (Ct)  t  0
ð8Þ
upstream air temperature. The whole model of a single >
> 8t
>
> ^_ _
>
: ju(t)j  uM
cylinder controlled by proportional valve can be writ- >
ten in the form of equation (4) 8t
8
> x_ 1 = x2 which means no matter how the adaptive function is
>
>  a (x3  ka x4 )  u1 x2  u2 Sf (x2 )
> M x_ 2 = A
> designed, the estimated parameters vector will always
>
>
>
>
> + u3 + ~f 0 be inside the known closed set Bu and the update rate
>
> gR gAa of estimated parameters are all limited.
>
> x_ 3 = ðm_ ain Ts  m_ aout Ta Þ  x2 x3
>
> The matrix of adaptive law C is described as follows
< Hp Va Va
g1 _ ð4Þ 8
>+
> Q + u4 + d~a0 T
>
> Hp Va a >
< a C  Ci uif uif Ci when lmax (Ci (t))
rMi
>
> i i
>
>
> x_ 4 =
gR
ðm_ bin Ts  m_ bout Tb Þ 
gAb
x2 x4 C_ i= 1 +ni uif Ci uif and Pr^u (Ci t i )  u
T ^Mi
>
> H V Vb >
:
>
> p b 0 otherwise
>
> g1 _
>
:+ Q + u5 + d~b0 1
Hp Vb b ti = u ei ð9Þ
1 +ni uTif Gi uif if
The status variables vector X is given by
where rMi is the upper limit of kCi (t)k, while
T  T lmax (Ci (t)) is the maximum eigenvalue of Ci (t). ai is
X = ½x1 , x2 , x3 , x4  = x, x_ , pa =Hp , pb =Hp
 a = Aa Hp the fading factor and ni is the normalized factor.
A
ð5Þ Obviously, it is ensured that Ci (t)  rMi I, 8t. According
u = ½u1 , u2 , u3 , u4 , u5 T to the model established in equation (4), the last three
 T equations can be rewritten in the linear regression form
= b, Af , FL + fn , dan , dbn
and then multiplied by Gf as shown in equation (10)
where Hp = 105 is used to convert the unit of pressure 8
>  a (x3  ka x4 )  M x_ 2 
y1f = Gf ½A
into 100 kPa. It is helpful in the process of controller >
>
>
debugging and adjusting. >
> = u1 x2f + u2 Sf (x2 )  u3 1f
>
>

>
>
>
> y2f = Gf ½gRðm_ ain Ts  m_ aout Ta Þ= Hp Va
>
>

< gAa x2 x3 =Va + ðg  1ÞQ_ a = Hp Va  x_ 3 
Controller design of single cylinder system
>
> =  u4 1f
Online parameter estimation >
>

>
>
> y3f = Gf ½gRðm_ bin Ts  m_ bout Tb Þ= Hp Vb
>
Based on the research of online parameter estimation >
>

>
> _ b = Hp Vb  x_ 4 
and back-stepping design,19,36 The adaptive law of >
> gA b x 2 x 4 =V b + ð g  1Þ Q
:
parameters is given by =  u5 1f
ð10Þ
^_ = sat _ (Pr^ (Ct))
u ^ 2 Bu
u(0) ð6Þ
uM u
where Gf is a stable linear time-invariant (LTI) filter
where Bu is the bound of the parameters vector u. Pr^u that has the form
is the standard projection mapping. C is the matrix of
adaptive law and t is the adaptive function. This pro- v2f
jection mapping has been described in Goodwin and Gf =  ð11Þ
Mayne’s37 and Yao and Tomizuka’s19 works. satu_ M (H) (t f s + 1) s2 + 2jvf s + v2f
is the saturation function, which is used to limit the
updating speed of the parameters. The saturation func- where vf , tf , and j are all constants. Obviously, Gf is a
tion is defined as third-order transfer function.
( Defining yif = uTif uis , where u1s = ½u1 , u2 , u3 T ,
1 kHk  u^_ M u2s = ½u4 T , and u3s = ½u5 T , the regression vectors are
satu^_ (H) = sa H, sa = _^ ð7Þ
M
uM =kHkkHk.u ^_ M uT1f = ½x2f , Sff (x2 ),  1f , uT2f = ½1f , and uT3f = ½1f .
The error of estimation can be written in the form of
where u^_ M is the maximum parameter updating speed
determined in advance. According to the definitions ^is  uT uis = uT u
ei = ^yif  yif = uTif u ~ ð12Þ
if if is
above, the adaptive law has the properties below

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

Shang et al. 5

The equation above is the standard parameter esti- size of this domain can be controlled by k2 and h2 . In
mation model. Least square method (LSM) can be used order to satisfy this requirement, the derivation of z3
to obtain the estimated vector ^u. has to be calculated
 
gAa gAb g1 _
Adaptive robust controller design z_ 3 = qe  x2 x3 + x2 x4 ka + Q
Va Vb Hp Va a
According to the system model built in equation (4), the g1 _
elements of the error vector is defined as ½z1 , z2 , z3 T and  Q ka + u4  u5 ka + d~a0  d~b0 ka  p_ edc  p_ edu
Hp V b b
expected first-level input pe is shown in equation (13)
gR gR
qe = ðm_ bin Ts  m_ bout Tb Þ ðm_ ain Ts  m_ aout Ta Þ
z1 = x1  xd z2 = z_ 1 + k1 z1 Hp V b Hp V a
ð18Þ
pe = x3  ka x4 z3 = pe  ped
ped = peda + peds1 + peds2 where k3 is defined as the feedback gain of pressure level
ð13Þ error z3 . To calculate the expected mass flow, qed is
peda = ½^
u1 x2 + ^u2 Sf (x2 )  ^u3 separated into three parts as shown in equation (19).
a
+ M(€x1d  k1 z1 )=A qeda is the model compensation part, qeds1 is the propor-
tional feedback part of z3 , and qeds2 is used as the robust
peds1 =  k2 z2 =A a)
 a peds2 =  h2 z2 =(4h2 A feedback part to inhibit the affection of model uncer-
2
tainties. h3 , h3 are used to control the value of robust
where k1 is defined as the feedback gain of the tracking feedback part qeds2
position error z1 .
To calculate the expected pressure input, ped is sepa- qed = qeda + qeds1 + qeds2
rated into three parts as shown in equation (13). peda is  
the model compensation part, peds1 is the proportional qeda =  A a z2 + gAa x2 x3 + gAb x2 x4 ka
feedback part of z2 and peds2 is used as the robust feed- Va Vb
back part to inhibit the affection of model uncertainties. g1 _ g1 _
 Q + Q ka  u4 + u5 ka  d~a0
k2 is defined as the feedback gain of z2 . h2 , h2 are used Hp Va a Hp Vb b
to control the value of robust feedback part peds2 . + d~b0 ka + p_ edc
To choose property values of h2 and uiM , they must
satisfy the conditions shown in equation (14) qeds1 =  k3 z3 qeds2 =  h23 z3 =(4h3 )
 
  h3  ½juM1 jjx2 j + juM2 jSf (x2 ) + juM3 j
h2  juM1 jjx2 j + juM2 jSf (x2 ) + juM3 j + fmax  
ð14Þ  1 ∂ped 
uMi = ui max  ui min + fmax   + juM1 j + juM1 j + da max + db max
M ∂x2 
To prove the stability of controller, a semi-positive ð19Þ
definite function is defined as equation (15)
Define another semi-positive definite function
1
V2 = Mz22 ð15Þ 1 2
2 V3 = V2 + z ð20Þ
2 3
The derivation of V2 can be expressed as equation
(16) according to the definitions in equation (13) According to equation (19), it is also obvious that
qeds2 satisfies
 a z2 z3  k 2 z2 + z2 ½ A
V_ 2 = A  a peds2 + ~u1 x2 +
2
ð16Þ z3 ½qeds2  ~u4 + ~u5  d~a0 + d~b0  p_ edu   h3
u2 Sf (x2 )  ~u3 + ~f 0 
~ ð21Þ
z3 qeds2  0
It is not difficult to prove that peds2 satisfies the con-
ditions in equation (17) Supposing qe = qed and take the similar calculation
to V3 as the process for V2 , then the derivation of V3
u1 x2 + ~u2 Sf (x2 )  ~u3 + ~f 0   h2
z2 ½~ satisfies
 a peds2  0
z2 A ð17Þ V_ 3  k2 z22 + h2  k3 z23 + h3  bV3 + h
 a z2 z3  k 2 z2 + h 2 b = minf2k2 =M, 2k3 g ð22Þ
V_ 2  A 2
h = h2 + h3
The equations above indicate that when z3 = 0, z2
will converge exponentially to a spherical domain. The which means that the solution of V3 is

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

h 
V3 (t)  ebt V3 (0) + 1  ebt ð23Þ where ucd , um , uc , and udz are normalized control val-
b ues, middle control value, real output voltage, and dead
zone value, respectively. KA to KG are constants that
It also indicates that the upper limit of error vector
describe the mass-flow properties of the MPYE valve.
z = ½z2 , z3 T is
According to the definitions and calculations above,
2h   finally the real output voltage uc is
kz(t)k2  ebt kz(0)k + 1  ebt ð24Þ
b
uc = J 1 (A(u)) ð27Þ
This result indicates that z2 and z3 converge expo-
nentially to a spherical domain, whose size can be con-
trolled by k2 , k3 , h2 , and h3 . Due to z2 = z_ 1 + k1 z1 , it is Parallel system structure and analysis
clearly that z1 is bounded according to final value theo-
rem of Laplace transform theory. Since this 3-RPS system mainly aims at the industrial
After the expected mass flow qed is gotten in equa- market motion simulation equipment, such as in four-
tion (19), based on the flow rate equations in equation dimensional (4D) movie cinema, there are some guide-
(3), the area of the proportional valve port can be cal- lines to choose the proper elements: (1) to realize the
culated by the inverse flow-rate functions ability to lift the load as heavy as two persons, consid-
8 ering as 200 kg, we choose FESTO DNC-63-200-P as
> Hp qed =(gRTs Kq (ps , pa , Ts )=Va the cylinder, which is a basic and common cylinder pro-
>
>
< + gRT K (p , p , T )k =V ); q .0
b q b 0 b a b ed duction; (2) to satisfy the large flow rate in the occasion
A(u) =
>
> H q =(gRT K (p , p , T )=V of fast moving and heavy acceleration, FESTO MPYE-
> p ed
:
a q a 0 s a
gRTs Kq (ps , pb , Tb )ka =Vb ); qed \0 5-1/4-010B is chosen as the directional valve to control
8 pffiffiffiffiffi the piston position; and (3) one resistance position sen-
>
< Cd Ca Pu = Tp u ; Pd =Pu  b
sor and two pressure sensors are used to convert status
ffiffiffiffiffi
Kq (pu , pd , Ts ) = Cd Ca Cb Pu = Tu ; b\Pd =Pu \l variables to voltage values. This 3-RPS system uses NI-
>
: pffiffiffiffiffi
Cd Ca Cc Pu = Tu ; l  Pd =Pu  1 PXI RT system as the controller hardware, as shown in
ð25Þ Figure 3. The control algorithm is written in MATLAB
C language S-function and compiled by real-time work-
By the determination of experiment results, the rela- shop. NI provides a software named as Veristand which
tion between control voltage and valve area can be could link the dll model built by MATLAB and the I/O
expressed as ports on PXI data acquisition cards.
8 According to the mechanism structure shown in
>
> KA u2cd + KB ucd + KC
> Figure 2, using Tait-Bryan angles X (a)Y (b)Z(g) to
>
>
< when juc  um j  udz describe the coordinate transformation, the transfor-
A(u) = J (uc ) = ðKD ucd + KE Þ mation matrix is given by
>
> ð26Þ
>
> ðK u + KG Þ 2 3
>
: F cd cbcg cbsg sb
when juc  um j\udz A 4 cacg  sasbsg sacb5 ð28Þ
B R= casg + sasbcg
ucd = (uc  um )=10 sasg  casbcg cgsa + casbsg cacb

Figure 3. 3-RPS pneumatic manipulator, signal configurations, and controller structure.

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

Shang et al. 7

where s stands for sin, c stands for cos. (Xbo , Ybo , Zbo ) is
the origin point location of moving board in the fixed
board coordinate. The restriction functions are written
as follows
8A
> Y = rb ( cos b sin g)
>
< A bo
Xbo = r2b ( cos b cos g + sin a sin b sin gcos a cos g)
sin a sin b
>
> ðm_ ibin Ts  m_ ibout Tib Þ
: g =  arctan
cos a + cos b
ð29Þ
where ra and rb are the lengths of OA Ai and OB Bi . In
the current structure, the joint points Ai and Bi are all
located on the same radius circle on each plane, and OA
and OB are the centroids of the equilateral triangles
A1 A2 A3 and B1 B2 B3 , respectively. Points Ai , Bi , OA , and
OB are in the same plane.
Given the posture xp = ½a, b, A Zbo T , the lengths of
all actuators can be written in the vector form
Li = AB T B Psi A PRi = AB Rxyz B Psi + A Pbo A PRi ð30Þ
where Li is the vector of cylinders’ lengths. Use
li = jLi j  L0i to calculate the actual lengths of the pis-
ton rods. L0i is the original length of the cylinder and li
is the actual position of each piston rod. Based on the
discussion above, the transition functions from work-
space xp (a, b, z) to joint space xd (l1 , l2 , l3 ) = ½x1 , x2 , x3 T
are finally established.
According to the structure of the 3-RPS pneumatic
platform and single cylinder servo system model, the
dynamic model in joint space can be written as follows
_  FL + fn + f~0
Me x€ = Aa pL  bx_  Af Sf (x) ð31Þ
where x = ½x1 , x2 , x3 T is the desired position curve of
each cylinder. Aa = Hp Aa , Me = diagfm1 , m2 , m3 g, mi is
the equivalent mass load of each piston rod.
pL = ½pL1 , pL2 , pL3 T , pLi = pia  ka pib , ka is the area fac-
tor for the cylinder chambers within the piston rod. pL
is the first-level virtual input, which has the physical
meaning of equivalent pressure differences vector.
FL = ½FL1 , FL2 , FL3  is the load matrix applied to cylin-
der piston rods. fn = ½fn1 , fn2 , fn3 T and
~ ~ ~ ~ T
fo = ½fo1 , fo2 , fo3  represent the disturbance and mod-
eling error on each axis.
The thermodynamic process in the cylinder cham-
bers can be modeled as equation (32)
p_ L = qL + Fp + dn + de0
g R
qLi = a ðm_ iain Ts  m_ iaout Tia Þ
Hp Via
ga R
Hp Vib ð32Þ
g Aia g Aib
Fpi =  a x_ i pia  a x_ i pib
Via Vib
ga  1 _ g 1 _
+ Q  a Q
Hp Via ia Hp Vib ib
where qL = ½qL1 , qL2 , qL3 T , which stands for the second-
level virtual input, is used as the desired flow rate to
calculate the control voltages of the proportional
valves. Fp = ½Fp1 , Fp2 , Fp3 T is the external work vector.
dn = ½dn1 , dn2 , dn3 T and d~o = ½do1 , do2 , do3 T are the
influence caused by the disturbance and modeling error
of air flow, respectively. f~o and d~o are all the non-linear
uncertainty parts in the model.
Figure 3 shows the basic structure of a 3-RPS
pneumatic manipulator and the realistic plant. Based
on the single adaptive control model estimation vec-
tors configurations, the load parameter, which causes
the biggest difference from single system to a parallel
coupled system, has been considered into the online
estimation. It could be inferred that the load varia-
tions caused by the parallel mechanism structure
would be calculated online and the influence on the
performance would be decreased. Due to the load
parameters FLi are also bounded, the controller
designed in Figure 3 is obviously stable according to
the analysis in sections above.
Single cylinder control experiments
Constant values mentioned in Table 3 were used in all
the models and controllers. Initial value configurations
of the variables, vectors, and matrices of the controller
are shown in Table 2. The experimental configuration
of single cylinder is shown in Figure 1. Using NI-cRIO
9022 as real-time controller and data acquisition cards
attached on it, running the controller model described

Table 2. Initial values for single cylinder control experiments.

Symbol Description Value

^
u(0) Initial value of parameter estimation vector ½125, 20, 20, 0, 0T
umax umin Boundary of estimated parameters ½500, 150, 100T , ½0, 0, 100T
C1 (0), C2 (0), C3 (0) Initial configuration of adaptive matrices diagf100, 100, 100g, ½100T , ½100T
rMi Upper limit of kCi (t)ki = 1, 2, 3 ½1000, 100, 100T , ½100T , ½100T
u_ M Estimation speed limitations ½10, 10, 10T , ½10T , ½10T

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 4. Single cylinder tracking performance with 0.5-Hz sine-wave reference trajectory. Upper panel: tracking results (red:
desired curve; blue: measured curve); lower panel: tracking error results.
above and converted by real-time workshop, the actual
performance of the algorithms could be easily acquired.
The experiment results are shown in Figure 4 in the
condition of 0.5 Hz sine-wave desired trajectory.
Figure 4 demonstrates the controller performance of
a desired curve 0:09 sin(pt) + 0:1 (m). The tracking
error is becoming smaller and smaller while the
unknown parameters are being identified with the help
of online parameter estimator. The maximum control
error can be as low as about 1.7 mm as shown in that
figure. The status variables pa , pb and the output value
uc of the system built in equation (4) are shown in
Figure 5.
Figure 6 gives the comparison of different control
algorithms with the desired sine curve 0:09 sin(0:5pt).
Errors of the proportional–integral–derivative (PID),
SMC, determined robust control (DRC) (i.e. the back-
stepping designed controller with perfect parameters
setting without online estimation) and ARC controller
are shown from top to bottom.
Obviously, PID controller has the largest tracking
error since the method is non-model-based, and SMC
method based on back-stepping method improves the
precision significantly to about 2 mm for maximum.
With the adoption of robust feedback parts shown in
equation (19) and online parameters estimation
method, the maximum tracking error of ARC finally
becomes about 1 mm.
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016
Figure 7 demonstrates the parameters estimation
result. It is clear that as the parameters converge to
their actual values, the tracking performance becomes
better and better, which is also shown in Figure 6(d).
3-RPS manipulator posture control
experiments
The scheme of 3-RPS control system and the physical
equipment are shown in Figure 3. As mentioned in the
former sections, the platform has 3-DOFs which are
roll, pitch, and heave. Similar to the single cylinder
experiment, each one’s piston position x1 , pressures
pa , pb , as well as the air source pressure ps are all gath-
ered into the controller. When the desired curve in
workspace of xp = ½a, b, A Zbo T is given, the length vec-
tor xd would be calculated by inverse kinematics mod-
ule in the controller and used as the reference curve in
joint space. Initial values of 3-RPS system that are
shown in Table 3 are applied in the 3-RPS controller
and some of the values are updated since the change of
load, shown in Table 4. Comparing with the single
cylinder condition, the manipulator situation has about
three times consumption of calculation for the multi-
axis model. So the controller was changed to PXI sys-
tem which could easily run at more than 5 kHz. In this
experiment, the controller frequency was set as 1 kHz.
Shang et al. 9

Figure 5. System status: pressure in chambers (Pa , Pb ) (upper panel) and control output data uc (lower panel).

Table 3. System constant parameters used in the model and Table 4. New initial value configurations for 3-RPS manipulator
controllers. posture control experiments.

Symbol Description Value Symbol Value

ra , rb Lengths of OA Oi , OB Bi 0:332 m, 0:336 m ^

u(0) ½325, 20, 80, 0, 0T
L0 Original length of cylinder 0:494 m umax , umin ½500, 150, 500T , ½0, 0, 1000T
ka Area ratio Aa =Ab 0.899 Me ½13:0, 9:0, 9:0T (kg)
n Polytropic factor 1.35
g Specific heat of air 1.4
R Universal gas constant 286.9 as zero. The posture tracking results of the roll (a) axis
D Cylinder diameter 0.063 m
is shown in Figure 8 with the trajectory of
L Piston stroke 0.2 m
pr Critical pressure ratio 0.29 0:32 sin(1:57t) (rad) in workspace. Another two experi-
l Linear flow pressure ratio 0.999 ments on pitch and heave axes were also executed with
Hp Configuration factor 105 the trajectories of 0:28 sin(1:57t) (rad) and
Aa Section area of chamber A 31:172e4 m2 0:09 sin(1:57t) (m), respectively. Meanwhile, the lengths
Ab Section area of chamber B 28:030e4 m2
V0i Chamber dead volume 0.02 L of all rods in joint space (L1 , L2 , L3 ) are shown below
ai Fading factor 0.1 the error curve in Figure 8, which are also very close to
ni Normalized factor 0.1 the reference sine-waves.
k1 , k2 , k3 Gains of three levels 70, 70, 60 Furthermore, a set of compound trajectories are
h2 , h3 Configuration constants 4, 10 used as the desired trajectories in workspace. While
h2 , h3 Configuration constants 100, 150
t f , vf , j Filter factors 50, 100, 1 these inputs are acting on all of the axes in workspace,
um , udz Center voltage, dead zone 5.02 V, 0.68 V that is, a, b, and z are all in the motion status. It is a
M Load mass 3.3 kg more universal working status of the 3-RPS system.
Figure 9 is the result of the tracking performance of
the compound trajectories. These two lines indicate
that the real posture of the platform is also very close
The other mechanical components and sensors are to the desired curves. The ARC control errors of three
noted in the right picture of Figure 3. axes are shown by the solid blue lines in Figure 10.
For the first step of control experiment, only one of Meanwhile, the posture performance under different
these three axes is activated while the other two are set algorithms is also compared in this figure by the dotted

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

10 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 6. Comparison of different control algorithms: (a) PID, (b) SMC, (c) DRC, and (d) ARC. 0.25-Hz reference sine-wave
trajectory.

Table 5. Single cylinder control error analysis and algorithms comparison.

Algorithm Trajectory frequency (Hz) Trajectory expression (m) eF (mm) kekrms (mm) kekrms =Am (%)

PID 0.25 0:09 sin(1:57t) 10.3 4.52 5.02

SMC 0.25 0:09 sin(1:57t) 2.03 0.98 1.08
DRC 0.25 0:09 sin(1:57t) 1.65 0.79 0.88
ARC 0.5 0:09 sin(3:14t) 1.90 0.866 0.96
ARC 0.25 0:09 sin(1:57t) 0.93 0.424 0.47

PID: proportional–integral–derivative; SMC: sliding mode control; DRC: determined robust control; ARC: adaptive robust control.

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

Shang et al. 11

Figure 7. Parameter estimation results of the single cylinder control, from ^u1 to ^u5 .

Figure 8. Posture tracking results, roll axis, 0:32 sin(1:57t).

red and black lines. The comparison indicated that the
proposed controller improves the posture control per-
formance of pneumatic manipulator significantly.
Performance analysis and conclusion
As the results shown in the figures above, the effective-
ness of the adaptive robust method that used to raise
the control performance for ordinary pneumatic
cylinder is verified by the experiments. Based on the
online parameter estimation, the tracking error
becomes smaller and smaller as the estimated values
converge to the actual numbers, which is shown clearly
in Figures 6 and 7. Table 5 provides comparisons about
the performance with different algorithms and different
frequency with the proposed ARC controller for single
cylinder experiments. It is clear to conclude that the
method proposed in this article made a big progress on

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

12 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 9. Compound posture reference trajectory tracking experiment result. From top to bottom, they are roll axis, pitch axis,
and heave axis.

Table 6. Error indexes of one-axis-motion case for 3-RPS relative error kekrms =Am is calculated for comparison,
manipulator.
where Am is the amplitude of the trajectory
Axis eF kekrms kekrms =Am (%) 
eF = maxfjejgTf 10  t  Tf
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Ð ð33Þ
Roll 0.0029 rad 0.0015 rad 0.47 1 Tf 2
Pitch 0.0050 rad 0.0017 rad 0.61
kekrms = 10 Tf 10 e dt
Heave 1.07 mm 0.39 mm 0.44
Overall in this study, using ARC controller pro-
posed in this article, the precision of a 3-RPS platform
driven by pneumatic cylinders was increased signifi-
pneumatic servo control. However, there are also some cantly to about 0.5%–0.7% (relative error). This con-
uncertainties or unmodeled parts, which influence the troller has successfully overcome the disadvantages of
performance more significantly as trajectory frequency the parameters uncertainty and non-linear characteris-
becoming higher. It can also be noted that the estima- tics of pneumatic system. The results of the perfor-
tion still works well in the parallel platform posture mance satisfied the precision demand for a motion
control, as shown in Figures 8–10. The precision analy- simulator used in 4D movie cinema. However, there
ses of 3-RPS manipulator are shown in Tables 6 and 7. were also some challenges to face when considering
In order to quantify the performance, error indexes more about the real working conditions. In the experi-
are calculated by the data in last 10 s. The expressions ments, the platform has not been working in the situa-
of maximum tracking error eF and root mean square tion of fast moving and heavy load. Meanwhile, in the
error kekrms are shown in equation (33). To give a gen- controller design for 3-RPS manipulator, the equiva-
eral effectiveness evaluation criterion of the controller, lent mass on each piston rod was considered as

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

Shang et al. 13

Figure 10. Tracking error for three dimensions in workspace under different algorithms. From top to bottom, they are roll axis,
pitch axis, and heave axis. Red dotted line: SMC; black dotted line: DRC; blue solid line: ARC.

Table 7. Error indexes of compound trajectories for 3-RPS manipulator of all axes under different control methods.

Algorithm Axis eF kekrms kekrms =Am (%)a

SMC Roll 0.0087 rad 0.0035 rad ;1:09

Pitch 0.0108 rad 0.0047 rad ;1:68
Heave 3.31 mm 1.19 mm ;1:32
DRC Roll 0.0057 rad 0.0026 rad ;0:81
Pitch 0.0066 rad 0.0027 rad ;0:96
Heave 2.35 mm 0.96 mm ;1:07
ARC Roll 0.0042 rad 0.0019 rad ;0:59
Pitch 0.0049 rad 0.0020 rad ;0:71
Heave 1.20 mm 0.48 mm ;0:53

SMC: sliding mode control; DRC: determined robust control; ARC: adaptive robust control.
a
The maximum displacement from middle point is used here as a substitution for a compound motion curve’s amplitude.

constant, which was varying actually. This was com- the desired trajectory was changing quickly. The
pensated by the robust part and parameters uncertain- research on how to prevent the disadvantages brought
ties estimation method. However, the online load by the large and fast load variation still needs to be
estimation might fail to identify the actual value while done in the future. Meanwhile, an embedded

Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016

14
controller hardware solution must be proposed to sub-
stitute NI-cRIO/PXI systems used in laboratory for
an industrial production.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: This paper is supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51375430).
References
1. Xiang F and Wikander J. Block-oriented approximate
feedback linearization for control of pneumatic actuator
system. Control Eng Pract 2004; 12: 387–399.
2. Kimura T, Hara S, Fujita T, et al. Feedback linearization
for pneumatic actuator systems with static friction. Con-
trol Eng Pract 1997; 5: 1385–1394.
3. Khayati K, Bigras P and Dessaint LA. LuGre model-
based friction compensation and positioning control for
a pneumatic actuator using multi-objective output-feed-
back control via LMI optimization. Mechatronics 2009;
19: 535–547.
4. Richardson R, Plummer AR and Brown MD. Self-tun-
ing control of a low-friction pneumatic actuator under
the influence of gravity. IEEE T Contr Syst T 2001; 9:
330–334.
5. Girin A, Plestan F, Brun X, et al. High-order sliding-
mode controllers of an electropneumatic actuator: appli-
cation to an aeronautic benchmark. IEEE T Contr Syst
T 2009; 17: 633–645.
6. Schulte H and Hahn H. Fuzzy state feedback gain sche-
duling control of servo-pneumatic actuators. Control Eng
Pract 2004; 12: 639–650.
7. Smaoui M, Brun X and Thomasset D. A study on track-
ing position control of an electropneumatic system using
backstepping design. Control Eng Pract 2006; 14:
923–933.
8. Grewal K, Dixon R and Pearson J. Control design for a
pneumatically actuated parallel link manipulator. In:
Proceedings of the 2011 21st international conference on
systems engineering (ICSEng), Las Vegas, NV, 16–18
August 2011, pp.43–48. New York: IEEE.
9. Grewal KS, Dixon R and Pearson J. LQG controller
design applied to a pneumatic Stewart-Gough platform.
Int J Autom Comput 2012; 9: 45–53.
10. Ramsauer M, Kastner M, Ferrara P, et al. A pneumati-
cally driven Stewart platform used as fault detection
device. Appl Mech Mater 2012; 186: 227–233.
11. Pradipta J, Klunder M, Weickgenannt M, et al. Develop-
ment of a pneumatically driven flight simulator Stewart
platform using motion and force control. In: Proceedings
of the 2013 IEEE/ASME international conference on
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
advanced intelligent mechatronics (AIM), Wollongong,
NSW, Australia, 9–12 July 2013, pp.158–163. New York:
IEEE.
12. Andrievsky B, Kazunin D, Kostygova D, et al. Control
of pneumatically actuated 6-DOF Stewart platform for
driving simulator. In: Proceedings of the 2014 19th inter-
national conference on methods and models in automation
and robotics (MMAR), Miedzyzdroje, 2–5 September
2014, pp.663–668. New York: IEEE.
13. Wang JG, Fan LH and Hu LJ. Positional forward solu-
tion and numeric-symbolic solution of singular configura-
tion analysis for 3-RPS parallel platform mechanism. J
Mach Des 2005; 5: 5.
14. Huang Z and Zhao Y. Analysis of active forces and con-
straint reactions of 3-RPS parallel manipulator. J Yan-
shan Univ 2008; 32: 299–303.
15. Zheng KJ, Cui P and Guo HJ. Kinematics and static
characteristics analysis of 3-RPS parallel mechanism. J
Mach Des 2011; 9: 9.
16. Pfreundschuh G, Kumar V and Sugar TG. Design and
control of a 3-DOF in-parallel actuated manipulator. In:
Proceedings of the 1991 IEEE international conference on
robotics and automation, Sacramento, CA, 9–11 April
1991, pp.1659–1664. New York: IEEE.
17. Cheng YM and Chen YS. An angle trajectory tracking
for a 3-DOF pneumatic motion platform by the NI com-
pact RIO embedded system. J Mech Eng Autom 2013; 3:
14–21.
18. Yao B and Tomizuka M. Smooth robust adaptive sliding
mode control of manipulators with guaranteed transient
performance. J Dyn Syst: T ASME 1996; 118: 764–775.
19. Yao B and Tomizuka M. Adaptive robust control of
SISO nonlinear systems in a semi-strict feedback form.
Automatica 1997; 33: 893–900.
20. Yao B and Palmer A. Indirect adaptive robust control of
SISO nonlinear systems in semi-strict feedback forms. In:
Proceedings of the international federation of automatic control
(IFAC) world congress (T-Tu-A03), Barcelona, Spain, 21–
26 July 2002, vol. 2, pp.1–6. Laxenburg, Austria: IFAC.
21. Yao B. Integrated direct/indirect adaptive robust
control of SISO nonlinear systems in semi-strict feedback
form. In: Proceedings of the 2003 American control confer-
ence, Denver, CO, 4–6 June 2003, vol. 4, pp.3020–3025.
New York: IEEE.
22. Chen Z, Yao B and Wang Q. m-synthesis-based adaptive
robust control of linear motor driven stages with high-
frequency dynamics: a case study. IEEE/ASME T Mech
2015; 20: 1482–1490.
23. Chen Z, Yao B and Wang Q. Adaptive robust precision
motion control of linear motors with integrated compen-
sation of nonlinearities and bearing flexible modes. IEEE
T Ind Inform 2013; 9: 965–973.
24. Chen Z, Yao B and Wang Q. Accurate motion control of
linear motors with adaptive robust compensation of non-
linear electromagnetic field effect. IEEE/ASME T Mech
2013; 18: 1122–1129.
25. Yao J, Jiao Z and Ma D. Extended-state-observer-based
output feedback nonlinear robust control of hydraulic
Shang et al.
systems with backstepping. IEEE T Ind Electron 2014;
61: 6285–6293.
26. Sun W, Gao H and Kaynak O. Finite frequency HN con-
trol for vehicle active suspension systems. IEEE T Contr
Syst T 2011; 19: 416–422.
27. Sun W, Gao H and Kaynak O. Vibration isolation for
active suspensions with performance constraints and
actuator saturation. IEEE/ASME T Mech 2015; 20:
675–683.
28. Zhu X, Tao G, Yao B, et al. Adaptive robust posture
control of a parallel manipulator driven by pneumatic
muscles. Automatica 2008; 44: 2248–2257.
29. Zhu X, Tao G, Yao B, et al. Adaptive robust posture
control of parallel manipulator driven by pneumatic mus-
cles with redundancy. IEEE/ASME T Mech 2008; 13:
441–450.
30. Zhu X, Tao G, Yao B, et al. Integrated direct/indirect
adaptive robust posture trajectory tracking control of a
parallel manipulator driven by pneumatic muscles. IEEE
T Contr Syst T 2009; 17: 576–588.
31. Tao G and Zuo H. Cross-coupling adaptive robust con-
trol study of single/multiple 3-DOF pneumatic parallel
platforms. In: Proceedings of the 9th Japan fluid power
system society (JFPS) international symposium on fluid
Downloaded from ade.sagepub.com by guest on May 15, 2016
15
power, Shimane, Japan, 28–31 October 2014. Tokyo,
Japan: JFPS.
32. Zhong J, Fan J, Zhu Y, et al. Static modeling for com-
mercial braided pneumatic muscle actuators. Adv Mech
Eng 2014; 6: 425217.
33. Meng D, Li A, Tao G, et al. High performance motion
trajectory tracking control of pneumatic cylinders: a com-
parison of some nonlinear control algorithms. Adv Mech
Eng 2014; 6: 485704.
34. Carneiro J and De Almeida FG. Heat transfer evaluation
of industrial pneumatic cylinders. Proc IMechE, Part I: J
Systems and Control Engineering 2007; 221: 119–128.
35. Meng D, Tao G, Chen J, et al. Modeling of a pneumatic
system for high-accuracy position control. In: Proceed-
ings of the 2011 international conference on fluid power
and mechatronics (FPM), Beijing, China, 17–20 August
2011, pp.505–510. New York: IEEE.
36. Yao B. High performance adaptive robust control of
nonlinear systems: a general framework and new
schemes. In: Proceedings of the 1997 36th IEEE confer-
ence on decision and control, San Diego, CA, 10–12
December 1997, vol. 3, pp.2489–2494. New York: IEEE.
37. Goodwin GC and Mayne DQ. A parameter estimation
perspective of continuous time model reference adaptive
control. Automatica 1987; 23: 57–70.