Comparison of robotic positional control strategies

A comparison of robotic positional control strategies was done using computer simulation on a three degree-of-freedom manipulator. The manipulator was subjected to different payloads, trajectories at different velocities, varying different controller sample rates and different motor saturation levels. The control schemes studied were the proportional plus integral plus derivative (PID) method, computed torque method, resolved motion rate control (RMRC) method and the model-referenced adaptive control (MRAC) method.

These schemes were representative of three categories of robotic positional controllers - Joint Space control, Cartesian Space control and adaptive control. The criteria used for comparison were the maximum trajectory error, the maximum electrical controller.