Adaptive robust tracking of nonlinear systems and with an application to a robotic manipulator

Based on the input-output linearization technique and the variable structure control strategy, an adaptive control law is developed so that no prior knowledge of the bounds on the plant uncertainties is required. It is shown that the outputs of the closed-loop system asymptotically track the given output trajectories despite the uncertainties, and that the tracking errors can be made arbitrarily small. The scheme is then applied to the control of a two-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator with unknown payload. Simulation results indicate that the controller is robust with respect to uncertainties