Fault tolerant control of modular and reconfigurable robot with joint torque sensing

A fault tolerant control method is proposed for modular and reconfigurable robots with joint torque sensing. Based on a unique joint by joint control approach, the controller for each module neither requires motion states of any other modules, nor the link dynamics. Thus the fault tolerance is achieved at each joint module without affecting or requiring information about the other modules, ideal for fault tolerant control of modular and reconfigurable robots. In the proposed control design, uncalibrated torque sensor signals are assumed and actuator performance degradation is considered. Simulation results have confirmed its effectiveness. The proposed method has been implemented on one modular robot joint, and the experimental results are presented in this paper along with simulation results.