A comparative study on simulations vs. experiments of SMCPE

Sliding mode control with perturbation estimation (SMCPE) is a robust trajectory control strategy for coordinated multiple axes motion generators. The control strategy assures the pursuit of desired trajectories of multiple axes within a determined proximity despite the presence of modeling and disturbance uncertainties. The great majority of robust control studies assume that these uncertainties exhibit known upper bounds. The fundamental contribution of SMCPE is that the modeling uncertainties and disturbances do not have to be bounded by a priori known extremes, instead they are estimated in real time. This estimation is done by properly utilizing the feedback from the present position and velocity sensing, also the past control decisions. This paper presents simulation and experimental results for a 2-link SCARA type manipulator using SMCPE. The experiments were performed in ALARM laboratory at the University of Connecticut. The simulations reproduce the experimental results. If and when they do, they can be further used to study the effect of parametric variations on the performance of the control.