Fuzzy logic based robotic arm control

The authors are investigating the feasibility of applying fuzzy logic based control to the Space Shuttle robotic arm. Functions such as tracking, approach and grapple are typically performed by a robotic arm in a manual mode or semiautomatic mode where a point of resolution is driven to a desired point by kinematic inversion. Fuzzy logic based algorithms are being developed for the semiautomatic mode so that the computational problem of Jacobian inversion can be eliminated. The difference between the desired location and current location is an input vector to the controller that generates joint rate commands. A six-degree-of-freedom robotic arm was simulated to evaluate the performance of the controller. The development of the control algorithm, simulation testing, results, and the performance of the controller are reported