Passivity based adaptive control for mechanical manipulators using LS-type estimation

A novel adaptive controller for mechanical manipulators is presented. The convergence analysis is based on the passivity properties of the plant and those of the parameter estimation algorithm. Instead of using a gradient-type algorithm, as is currently the case in this sort of synthesis approach, a least-square-type estimation algorithm is proposed. The modified least squares (LS) algorithm is proved to be passive. The modification vanishes with time, and therefore the proposed parameter estimate converges to the LS estimate. The passivity properties of the mechanical manipulator and those of the proposed estimation algorithm are combined to conclude the stability of the control scheme