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Robust Stable Control of Haptic Devices Based on Transparency Maximization

Article  in  Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part I Journal of Systems and Control Engineering · June 2010
DOI: 10.1243/09596518JSCE1015

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 1

Robust stable control of haptic devices based on

transparency maximization
M T Ahmadian*, G Vossoughi, and F Tajaddodianfar
School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

The manuscript was received on 7 February 2010 and was accepted after revision for publication on 11 June 2010.

DOI: 10.1243/09596518JSCE1015

Abstract: The performance of haptic devices is evaluated based on the concept of

transparency, while their stability has prevalently been evaluated based on the passivity
criterion. Due to the conservativeness of passivity, it appears as an obstacle to improving
transparency. In the present paper, passivity is suggested to be replaced by the complementary
stability criterion which accounts for the robust stability of the interaction in the presence of
uncertain user hand dynamics. In this respect, an algorithm is proposed which guarantees
transparency of the haptic device in a stable manner. Assuming that the dynamics of the device
is known, a certain compensatory structure is assigned. This special structure guarantees
transparency of the device by compensating for the dynamics of the device and its control loop.
The design objective is to obtain a stabilizing controller which achieves robust interaction
stability in the presence of parametric uncertainties of user hand dynamics and other sources
of uncertainties. An iterative method is implemented, in conjunction with the D-K iteration
algorithm, to derive controller dynamics. The algorithm is applied to a series elastic actuator-
based haptic device. This results in a widened frequency range of transparent impedance
emulation. Simulation results confirm enhanced transparency and robust stability.

Keywords: haptics, robust stability, transparency, impedance control

1 INTRODUCTION In some works, passivity of the system is guaranteed

The aim of haptics is to provide humans with the
perception of touching objects simulated in a virtual
environment. Haptic devices are divided into two
main groups [1, 2]: impedance-type devices which
apply force or torque computed in the virtual envi-
ronment to the user and admittance types which
produce displacement. For the impedance-type de-
vices emulation of stiff virtual walls is a challenging
task and in such a case they suffer from stability
problems. However, admittance-type devices face
such problems when emulating low-impedance
virtual environments such as free motion [1].
The stability of the human–virtual environment
interaction has been addressed by many researchers.
Passivity is the most important and frequently used
stability criterion that has been used in the literature.
*Corresponding author: School of Mechanical Engineering,
Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Street, Tehran, Iran.
email: ahmadian@mech.sharif.edu
using dissipation through a digital damper [3, 4]. As
an alternative, the port-Hamiltonian approach has
been used and a method of discretization introduced
which preserves passivity of the port-Hamiltonian
system [5].
According to passivity theory, the feedback con-
nection of two passive systems is stable [6]. Since
most of the objects are passive and assuming a
passive human hand, passive design of the interface
ensures stable interaction of the device with a large
variety of objects including the human hand.
The human hand is modelled as a second-order
linear system consisting of inertia, damping, and
stiffness [7]. Damping is essential for having a dis-
sipative and hence passive interface [8]. A human
hand imposes an added damping on the interface
and leads to a more dissipative and consequently
more stable interaction. Thus, because of the
stabilizing effect of the human hand, in most studies
the dynamics of the human hand is neglected and
worst-case analysis is performed [9–11].

JSCE1015 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
2 M T Ahmadian, G Vossoughi, and F Tajaddodianfar
Performance in a haptic system is measured based
on the concept of transparency. The haptic interface
is modelled as a two-port linear network. Transpar-
ency is then evaluated as the match between the
virtual environment’s impedance and the impe-
dance transmitted to the user [12]. In an impe-
dance-type haptic interface, the impedance trans-
mitted to the user equals the sum of the impedances
of the virtual environment and the device itself [1].
Thus it is clear that the device dynamics negatively
affects its transparency. Compensation in a stable
manner of the transparency-violating dynamics of
the device, such as friction, is the main goal in works
that try to maximize transparency [12, 13]. The
concept of event-based haptics improves the realism
of contact with relatively stiff virtual objects [14]. In
this method, high frequency forces are applied in a
short time period at the beginning of contact to
improve the user perception of realism. A dynamic
compensating controller for transparency improve-
ment of a passive haptic device was studied in
previous work [15]. The algorithm given improved
the device transparency in dynamic situations
during telemanipulation processes. Two methods
of quantitative transparency measurement were
introduced in reference [16]; in that work, persever-
ance of the system passivity was critical for stability.
Moreover, in another previous work, an adaptive
bilateral control system and a local force compen-
sator were implemented in order to enhance system
transparency [17]. Two control architectures based
on the use of local force feedback and environment
impedance reflection have also been studied [18].
Passivity of the haptic device is not strictly
necessary for stability; it is possible to have non-
passive but stable operation. Therefore passivity is a
conservative stability criterion [9]. Improvement of
the transparency of the device agitates the stability
requirements of the system [12]. However, a con-
servative stability criterion such as passivity limits
improvement of the transparency of the device.
If a more precise stability criterion rather than
passivity is selected, it would be possible to reduce
the apparent inertia more than is limited by
passivity; consequently, transparency of the device
would be improved. The complementary stability
concept [19] enables passivity to be released and
provides a powerful means for improving transpar-
ency.
In the present paper a method of controller
synthesis is developed which provides robust stabi-
lity of the interaction according to the complemen-
tary stability criterion in the presence of various
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
sources of uncertainty. A compensatory structure is
designed which guarantees system transparency by
compensating for the device dynamics. An iterative
method in conjunction with the m-synthesis con-
troller design method results in a control system
which not only maximizes system transparency but
also provides robust interaction stability. The algo-
rithm is applied to a series elastic haptic actuator.
Simulation results confirm the findings.
Basic concepts and the general plant model are
described in section 2. The synthesis method of the
controller is proposed in section 3. The given
method is accomplished on a series elastic actuator
in section 4. Simulation results and conclusions are
presented in sections 5 and 6, respectively.
2 BASIC CONCEPTS
As described in section 1, because of the conserva-
tive nature of passivity, improvement of transpar-
ency is limited when passivity is used as the stability
criterion. Obviously it is necessary to avoid passivity
and implement another less conservative stability
criterion. The stabilizing effect of the human hand is
pointed out in the literature [9–11]. However, in
order to have more precise evaluation of stability of
the interaction, the dynamics of the human hand
should be taken into account. This leads to the
concept of complementary stability [19].
2.1 Complementary stability
According to this criterion, the user hand is model-
led as a second-order dynamic system with para-
metric uncertainty which accepts force as its input
and gives xop as its output displacement as follows
xop 1
H~ ~ ð1Þ
fh mh s2 zbh szkh
where mh, bh, and kh, respectively the mass,
damping, and stiffness of the user hand model, are
uncertain model parameters. If rh is an uncertain
model parameter, representing mh, bh, or kh, then it
can be described by
rh ~rhn zdrhd ð2Þ
where rhn represents the nominal value of the para-
meter rh, rhd is the maximum relative uncertainty,
and jdj¡1.
JSCE1015
 Robust stable control of haptic devices based on transparency maximization
Although the order of the hand dynamics may vary
during the operation but this second-order approxima-
tion is fit to the actual hand dynamics in haptic
applications, then it is suggested by the literature [7, 17].
The feedback connection between robot impe-
dance Zr and uncertain hand admittance Yh can be
represented by an upper linear fractional transform
of a generalized control plant and a 363 perturba-
tion matrix D. Robust stability of the perturbed
closed-loop system can be determined by the
application of small gain theorem with the struc-
tured singular value [20]. Perturbation matrix D is
diagonal and real valued. Although the structured
singular value m has no closed-form solution, its
upper and lower bounds can be calculated by
computational methods, and it can provide the
system with the necessary and sufficient condition
(m , 1) for interaction stability in the presence of all
hands H described by equations (1) and (2).
Complementary stability refers to the robust
stability of the coupled system of the robot and the
user hand. Passivity is replaced by complementary
stability and, according to the necessity and suffi-
ciency of this stability criterion, the device transpar-
ency is expected to be enhanced.
2.2 Stability and performance evaluation
Two fundamental differences exist between control
design for servo systems and interactive systems
[19]. Performance in an interactive system is
evaluated by the measure of transparency and, as
described before, relates to the impedance of the
robot Zr regardless of human hand dynamics. In
other words, for evaluating the transparency of a
haptic device, the dynamics of the user hand has no
Fig. 1 General device model and haptic feedback
JSCE1015
3
effect. But also as explained before, it is necessary to
take into account the human hand dynamics
(represented by its admittance Yh) in order to
evaluate the stability of the interaction. This means
that in an interactive system the transfer function
which is needed for stability analysis, ZrYh, differs
from the one which is required for performance
analysis, Zr. On the contrary, in a servo system only
the loop transfer function is analysed for both
stability and performance. This is the first intrinsic
difference between servo and interactive control
systems design.
In an interactive system the robotic device is
modelled as a two-port linear network. One port is
assigned to the interaction of the robot with the
controller and the remote side. The other port, in
which the robot impedance is evaluated, is assigned
to the interaction with the human hand. Thus, the
controller transfer function appears neither linearly
nor multiplicatively in the robot impedance Zr
needed for performance or the loop transfer function
ZrYh needed for stability. This reveals the second
intrinsic difference between servo and interaction
control design.
Because of the two differences just mentioned,
none of the techniques used in servo control design
can be implemented in interactive system control
design. Performance and stability of an interactive
system should be evaluated separately using differ-
ent transfer functions.
3 SYNTHESIS OF THE CONTROLLER
The device model is generally supposed to be as
shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 1, G1 and G2 represent the
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
4 M T Ahmadian, G Vossoughi, and F Tajaddodianfar
transfer functions from user hand displacement and
force set point to the force output of the device,
respectively. Figure 1 also presents the basic feed-
back structure which makes the robot capable of
virtual impedance emulation.
According to Fig. 1 the impedance transmitted to
the user is given by
fh
Zr ~ ~G1 zG2 Zv
xh
It is clear in this equation that the user hand
dynamics has no effect on the robot impedance
and, hence, it has no effect on the system transpar-
ency. In the ideal transparent case, robot impen-
dence Zr should be reduced to the virtual impedance
Zv; but, according to equation (3), the device
dynamics negatively affects the device transparency.
Also, user hand dynamics should be considered in
the stability analysis of the coupled system. There-
fore, according to Fig. 1, robust stability of the
transfer function from x0 to fh is studied based on
the concept of complementary stability.
Compensation of the effects of device dynamics in
a stable manner is the main objective. To achieve
this aim, a certain compensatory structure is added
to the virtual environment. If the assumed compen-
satory structure can provide the system with accep-
table transparency, then the control problem is
reduced to the synthesis of a stabilizing controller
since the transparency objective is already satisfied.
3.1 Compensatory structure
In order to compensate for the device dynamics,
certain compensators are added to the virtual
environment. In fact, the force command sent to
the device is modified regarding the device dy-
namics. Since system stability violation is possible
by adding these compensators, a stabilizing con-
troller should be added in order to maintain system
stability. In fact, a compensatory structure and a
feedback loop are added to the system of Fig. 1.
In order to describe the compensatory structure,
equation (3) should be taken into account. Regard-
ing this equation and in order to compensate for the
effects of G1 and G2, virtual impedance Zv is replaced
by compensated virtual impedance Zvn, given by
Zvn ~C1 zC2 Zv
where C1 and C2 are the two compensators. A
feedback controller Gc is also added to the system.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
Figure 2(A) displays the arrangement of compensa-
tors and the feedback controller, according to which
the device output impedance is given by
fh G1 zLðC1 zC2 Zv Þ
Zr ~ ~ ð5Þ
xh 1zL
where L~G2 Gc is the open-loop transfer function. C1
and C2 are chosen as
ð3Þ
{G3
C1 ~ ð6Þ
L
and
1zG4 Gx
C2 ~ ð7Þ
L
where G3 and G4 are the indentified models of G1
and G2, respectively. Gx equals Gc and its role is
discussed in section 3.3. Application of this type of
compensator causes the robot impedance to reach
the target impedance and leads to the case of ideal
transparency. However, C1 and C2 cannot be selected
as equations (6) and (7) for at least two reasons.
First, L21 which consists of inverses of G2 and Gc
would be an improper transfer function and does
not have a state space form. Second, the transfer
function Gc is unknown; in fact, Gc is the target of the
design procedure. In the following, certain ap-
proaches are given for overcoming these two
difficulties.
3.2 Reduction of the transfer functions to a
proper form
The problem of improperness of C1 and C2 comes
from the appearance of the inverses of Gc and G2. In
order to solve this problem, the control diagram of
Fig. 2(A) is converted to the form shown in Fig. 2(B).
To do this, L21 in C1 and C2 is factored and
placed
next to the blocks of ð1zG4 Gx ÞZv e{sT {G3 ; then,
placing the negative feedback before Gc{1 , the
transfer function of Gc is transmitted to the feedback
loop. As a result, Gc{1 does not appear in the block
diagram and the problem of its improperness is
removed.
In order to solve the problem of improperness of
G2{1 , a number of high-frequency poles are added to
make it proper. Clearly, the ideal transparency is not
ð4Þ provided in this case, and only in the frequency
range where the effects of the added poles are
negligible is higher transparency expected. If the
frequency of all of the added poles is assumed to be
JSCE1015
 Robust stable control of haptic devices based on transparency maximization 5

Fig. 2 Compensatory structure and stabilizing controller (A); final control diagram and
weighting functions (B)

equal to p, and if the order of the numerator of G2{1 frequency range at which the virtual impedance can
be n times greater than the order of its denominator, be emulated.
then the transfer function Gp is defined as

G2{1
Gp ~ ð8Þ 3.3 Iterative controller design
ð1zs=pÞn
The controller transfer function Gc, which is used in
Using equation (8), the device output impedance the compensatory structure, is unknown. In fact, the
according to Fig. 2(B) is calculated as objective of the design procedure is a primary
assumption and, consequently, the controller trans-
fh fer function appears in two various places in the
Zr ~
xh control loop. This reveals another problem since it is
G1 {ð1zs=pÞ{n G3 zð1zs=pÞ{n ð1zG4 Gx ÞZv e{sT not possible to force the automatic controller
~ synthesis techniques to give two similar outputs.
1zG2 Gc
ð9Þ In order to solve this problem, an iterative method
is used. To do this, the controller transfer function
Regarding equation (9), it is clear that the device appearing in the compensatory structure is replaced
capability in the emulation of the virtual impedance by an assumed transfer function Gx. In this case, the
is dependent on the frequency of the added poles. controller appears once in the control loop and, as in
Therefore p, as a design parameter, determines the the following, the problem is solved to derive a

JSCE1015 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
6 M T Ahmadian, G Vossoughi, and F Tajaddodianfar
controller satisfying stability and performance ob-
jectives. The derived controller would differ from the
primary assumption of Gx. However, Gc is estimated
by a lower-order transfer function and Gx is replaced
by Gc. The design procedure is repeated using the
new transfer function of Gx; and this is done over
and over again until the algorithm converges to a
function Gc which fits Gx in a wide frequency range.
Therefore, the problem of appearance of the con-
troller in more than one place in the control loop is
removed.
3.4 Stability analysis
According to the concept of complementary stabi-
lity, user hand effects are taken into account and the
stability of the closed-loop transfer function of the
robot impedance and user hand is studied. The
closed-loop transfer function from the displacement
set point x0 to the force output fh is given by
fh G1 {½1zðs=pÞ{n Gs z½1zðs=pÞ{n ð1zG4 Gx ÞZv e{sT
~ ð10Þ
x0 1zG2 Gc zG1 Gop {Gop G3 ½1zðs=pÞ{n zGop ð1zG4 Gx Þ½1zðs=pÞ{n Zv e{sT
where Gop represents the uncertain user hand
dynamics. Other sources of uncertainty exist in this
transfer function. G3 and G4, which are the identified
models of G1 and G2, contain parametric or dynamic
uncertainty. Moreover, Zv is assumed to be uncer-
tain; this enables study of the stability characteristics
of the interaction for a range of virtual impedances.
Applying all of the uncertainties, two design para-
meters remain: added pole frequency p and con-
troller dynamics Gc. Regarding the transparency
requirement of the system, p is determined and
design of Gc would be the objective. The uncertain
system of equation (10) would be robust stable if and
only if its nominal system is stable and the
structured singular value m, calculated in the pre-
sence of the uncertainties, does not exceed unity.
3.5 Performance objectives
The designed controller, in addition to robust
stability, should satisfy some performance objectives
other than transparency. In fact, the control system
should have the ability of noise reduction; also, the
control command should stay in the range of the
target force. In order to account for these objectives,
two weighting functions are added to the control
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
diagram. This is shown in Fig. 2(B), where Wn
represents the performance weighting function for
the noise reduction objective and Wu is the perfor-
mance weighting function accounting for the control
input limitations.
3.6 Time delay effects
If the total amount of time delay is assumed to be T,
then its effects are taken into account by adding the
time delay block of e2sT to the control diagram. A
first-order Pade estimation is used in the calcula-
tions
1{ðT =2Þs
e{sT ~ ð11Þ
1zðT =2Þs
This enables the time delay effects to be accounted
for in the calculations.
3.7 Controller derivation
After definition of the compensatory structure,
added poles, uncertainties, weighting functions,
and time delay effects, a stabilizing controller can
be derived. To do this, a generalized control plant,
containing performance weighting functions, is
derived such that its first and second inputs are
noise and control input, respectively, and its outputs
are weighted force f^h , weighted control signal u ^ , and
sensed force fh; this is shown in Fig. 3.
The last input and output of the derived general-
ized control plant are the output and input of the
controller, respectively. A robust controller is derived
by application of the D-K iteration algorithm to the
generalized control plant. It should be noted that the
convergence of this iterative method is not guaran-
teed; in fact, in case of divergence of the algorithm, it
is necessary to modify the design limitations and
repeat the procedure.
4 APPLICATION TO A SERIES ELASTIC
ACTUATOR HAPTIC DEVICE
A series elastic actuator model with one degree of
freedom (DOF) is used here as a case study. In such a
JSCE1015
 Robust stable control of haptic devices based on transparency maximization
Fig. 3 Uncertain generalized control plant (GCP)
including weighting functions
system, actuator force is applied through an elastic
element (Fig. 4(A)); as a result, measurement of the
relative displacement would be sufficient for deter-
mination of the applied user force. This can be
represented by the block diagram of Fig. 4(B). In
Fig. 4(B) Gmzc ðsÞ represents the transfer function of
the motor and its passive control system; it can be
estimated, up to a high degree of precision, by a
transfer function 1/ts, where t is the time delay of
the motor and controller.
Fig. 4 Series elastic actuator model (A); corresponding block diagram (B)
JSCE1015
7
The device transfer functions in equation (3)
would follow as
fh {Ks ts
G1 ~ ~ ð12Þ
xh R2 Ks zR2 ts
and
fh Ks
G2 ~ ~ ð13Þ
fd tszKs
where Ks is the stiffness of the elastic element of the
series elastic actuator, R is the handle arm of the
series elastic actuator, and fd is the desired force. Ks,
R, and t are given in Table 1. For this system n
equals unity and, according to equations (9) and
(10), as p increases the transparency of the device
improves; but the effect of model identification
uncertainty increases. User hand dynamic para-
meters are also given in Table 1. It is assumed that
a virtual spring with stiffness Kv is to be emulated,
which is described by
Kv ~Kvn ð1zedÞ ð14Þ
where d¡1, the nominal virtual stiffness Kvn is
assumed to be 300 N/m, and the range of variation of
Kv is manipulated by changing relative uncertainty e.
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
8 M T Ahmadian, G Vossoughi, and F Tajaddodianfar

Table 1 Parameter values

Parameter Value Unit Parameter Value Unit
Ks 10 Nm/rad mhd 2.0 kg
t 0.1 s bhn 21 Ns/m
R 15 cm bhd 20 Ns/m
T 0.05 s khn 201 N/m
mhn 2.1 kg khd 200 N/m

G3, which is the identified model of the device, is three types of Gx are selected, and the resulted
given by outputs of the algorithm are studied in the following.
As the first assumption, assume Gx to be equal to a
G3 ~G1 zWm D ð15Þ low-pass filter with low d.c. gain, namely Gx11.
Considering uncertainties and weighting functions
where kDk‘ v1 and Wm represents the uncertainty as described before, the algorithm is performed; after
weighting function which is described by a high-pass three iterations, the algorithm converges to a con-
filter troller Gc1 which fits to the preceding assumption
Gx31 in a wide frequency range. Figure 5 displays
200sz400
Wm ~ ð16Þ intermediary controller dynamics in the iterative
sz20 000 procedure. It should be noted that, in each step, the
output of the algorithm is estimated by a second- or
Performance weighting functions, Wn and Wu, are
third-order transfer function. The resulting control-
given by equations (17) and (18)
ler transfer function, Gc1, is given by
10sz1:4
Wn ~ ð17Þ 0:06104s2 z1951sz1:787|106
sz1400 Gc1 ~ ð19Þ
s2 z1629sz4134
and
As the second assumption, Gx is assumed to be
2sz6:1 equal to a low-pass filter with a relatively high d.c.
Wu ~ ð18Þ
sz61 gain, namely Gx12. Convergence occurs after three
iterations, as shown in Fig. 6, and the resulting
Time delay parameter T is assumed to be equal to controller Gc2 is given by
0.05 s, which represents a relatively slow sampling
rate. 0:2286s3 z6654s2 z5:833|104 sz1:328|107
Gc2 ~
Definition of an appropriate primary assumption s3 z1582s2 z7739sz2:58|104
of Gx is the main part of the design procedure. In ð20Þ
fact, the dynamics of the resulting controller directly
depends on this primary assumption. However,

Fig. 5 Iteration beginning with Gx11 converges to Gc1 Fig. 6 Iteration beginning with Gx12 converges to Gc2

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering JSCE1015
 Robust stable control of haptic devices based on transparency maximization
Finally, as the third assumption, it is assumed that
Gx equals a high-pass filter, namely Gx13. After two
iterations, the algorithm converges to Gc3, as given
by
0:2079s2 z1951sz1:787|106
Gc3 ~
s2 z2646sz5:165|104
In order to evaluate the device transparency, the
output impedances of the device in the presence of
the three controllers are given in Fig. 7 in which the
objective is to emulate the nominal virtual spring. It
is clear from Fig. 7 that the designed controllers can
improve device transparency up to the frequency of
100 rad/s, which is approximately ten times greater
than the maximum transparency of the passive
control case. In addition, studying the structured
singular value for the coupled system of the device
impedance and user hand, m, confirms robust
stability of the interaction since mmax does not exceed
0.64, 0.88, and 0.90 in the presence of Gc1, Gc2, and
Gc3, respectively.
5 SIMULATION RESULTS
Time-domain analyses are performed to study
effects of the designed controllers on the transpar-
ency of the device. It is assumed that a virtual spring
with stiffness of 300 N/m is emulated. Reference
Fig. 7 Output impedance of the device in the passive control case and in the presence of each of
the three controllers
JSCE1015
9
input x0 is assumed to increase up to the value of
x1 5 20 mm in Dt seconds, retain this value for a few
seconds, and decrease back to zero in Dt seconds.
Low-acceleration excitations which represent low-
frequency behaviour are simulated by relatively high
values for Dt, and high-acceleration excitations are
ð21Þ
simulated by lower values of Dt. It is very useful to
plot the force transmitted to the user hand versus its
displacement. In the ideal case of transparent
emulation of a spring, loading and unloading curves
coincide and turn out to be a straight line with slope
of Kv. System dynamics affects responses and causes
them to separate. Figure 8 displays low acceleration
behaviour of the device during the process in the
presence of the proposed compensatory structure
and the Gc1 controller, and compares it with the
regular passive control case. Effects of the device
dynamics are more challenging in high acceleration
behaviour. Figure 9 displays the high acceleration
behaviour of the device. In the regular passive
control case, loading and unloading curves differ
considerably; however, application of the proposed
control structure causes the two curves to approach
each other, and this leads to enhancement of the
device transparency.
Effects of modelling uncertainty in the low and
high acceleration behaviours are shown in Figs 10
and 11, respectively. In Figs 10 and 11, performance
of the proposed control structure for the nominal
system is compared with the resulting performance
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
10 M T Ahmadian, G Vossoughi, and F Tajaddodianfar

Fig. 8 Virtual spring simulated with passive control and Gc1 controller; the device experiences
low acceleration

of the system containing 30 per cent and 40 per cent but in the high acceleration behaviour this type of
modelling uncertainty in G3. It is clear that in the uncertainty negatively affects the device transpar-
low acceleration behaviour, modelling uncertainty ency. As described before, this is due to the effects of
does not seriously affect the system transparency; the high-frequency added poles. Since the struc-

Fig. 9 Virtual spring simulated with passive control and Gc1 controller; the device experiences
high acceleration

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering JSCE1015
 Robust stable control of haptic devices based on transparency maximization 11

Fig. 10 Virtual spring simulated with the nominal system and various modelling uncertainties
(unc.) in the G3 controller experiencing low acceleration excitation

tured singular value of the coupled system does not
exceed unity, the system does not face instability;
but higher uncertainties negatively affect the system
transparency, especially in the high acceleration
behaviours.
Figures 8 to 11 are plotted in the presence of Gc1;
the other two controllers result in relatively similar
responses.
To study effects of measurement noise, a 1 per
cent power white noise generator followed by a low-

Fig. 11 Virtual spring simulated with the nominal system and various modelling uncertainties
(unc.) in the G3 experiencing high acceleration excitation

JSCE1015 Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
12 M T Ahmadian, G Vossoughi, and F Tajaddodianfar
Fig. 12 Sensed force in the presence of measurement noise for the passive control case (a), Gc1
(b), Gc2 (c) and Gc3 (d) controllers
pass filter is implemented. This causes the system to
experience noises with frequencies up to 60 rad/s or
10 Hz approximately. This is consistent with the
20 Hz sampling frequency since the highest fre-
quency of the signals in the control system should
not exceed half of the sampling frequency. Figure 12
displays the force transmitted to the user during the
process in the presence of the three controllers, from
which the effects of the three controllers, especially
Gc3, are clear.
The control command which is sent to the device
in the presence of measurement noise and the Gc2
controller is plotted in Fig. 13. Comparing this plot
with those given in Fig. 12 reveals that the control
Fig. 13 Control command in the presence of mea-
surement noise for the Gc2 controller
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
command sent to the device is slightly bigger than
the desired output force, and this is consistent with
the main objective in this study.
6 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
A method of controller synthesis for haptic systems
is given which not only provides the system with
robust stability but also maximizes transparency of
the device. To do this, a compensatory structure is
fitted to the virtual environment which guarantees
device transparency by compensating for its dy-
namics. Since the controller appears in two distinct
places in the control diagram, it is replaced by an
assumed transfer function Gx, and then, regarding
various uncertainties and performance weighting
functions, the D-K iteration algorithm is performed
to derive a robust controller. The derived controller,
Gc, replaces the primary transfer function Gx. This
iteration on Gx continues until Gc and Gx fit in a wide
frequency range.
The algorithm is applied to a series elastic actuator
model. The maximum achievable transparency
directly depends on the added pole frequency; an
added pole with frequency of 300 rad/s enables the
JSCE1015
 Robust stable control of haptic devices based on transparency maximization
device to emulate the target impedance up to the
frequency of 100 rad/s, which is almost ten times
greater than that of the regular passive control case.
Assuming three different types of transfer functions
for Gx, three various controllers are derived. Time-
domain simulations confirm that these controllers
improve the device transparency while they are
robust to various uncertainties, and also they can
reduce measurement noise.
The proposed method is applied to a single-DOF
device; however, extension to multi-DOF devices
would be necessary. It should be noted that the main
problem in the development of multi-DOF transpar-
ent haptic interfaces comes from the driving system
which is necessary to have minimized mechanical
impedance. Single-DOF methods that lead to lower
impedance of the drive system enable development
of transparent multi-DOF haptic interfaces.
F Authors 2010
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APPENDIX
Notation
bh damping of the user hand model
fd desired force
fh sensed force
f̂h weighted sensed force
kh stiffness of the user hand model
Ks stiffness of the elastic element of the
series elastic actuator
Kv virtual stiffness coefficient
Kvn nominal virtual stiffness coefficient
mh mass of the user hand model
n measurement noise
x0 displacement set point
xh net device displacement
R handle arm of the series elastic
actuator
s Laplace variable
Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering
14 M T Ahmadian, G Vossoughi, and F Tajaddodianfar

T time delay e relative uncertainty

û weighted control input m structured singular value
t time delay of the motor and its
controller in the series elastic
D perturbation matrix actuator

Proc. IMechE Vol. 224 Part I: J. Systems and Control Engineering JSCE1015

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