Comparison of transient performance in the control of soft tissue grasping

In robot-assisted surgery, surgical tools interact with tissues that have nonlinear mechanical properties. For situations where a pre-specified trajectory of tool positions (or applied forces) is desired, there are many controller designs that might be used. Four candidates are comparatively evaluated here, via computer simulation involving a nonlinear model of soft tissue behavior during grasping actions. The parameters for this model were obtained experimentally (in earlier work). The four candidate controllers are: (1) a well- tuned PID controller; (2) feedback linearization in combination with deadbeat control; (3) an optimal open-loop control law obtained via minimization of a quadratic cost function; and (4) a model predictive controller. Simulation trials are used to compare the transient performance of these candidate controllers under different assumptions regarding input and output noises. The conditions where each of the candidates is best are characterized.