This paper proposes a simple and intuitive model-free torque-tracking control for rotary electro-hydraulic actuators. The undesirable natural-velocity-feedback effect is discussed by introducing mechanical impedance into the electro-hydraulic actuation system. The proposed model-free torque control comprises inner- and outer-loop control to achieve two control objectives. Inner-loop control reduces the mechanical impedance passively and optimally. To improve the tracking accuracy, a certain form of proportional-integral-derivative control is applied to the outer loop. The robustness of the proposed closed-loop system against external disturbances is demonstrated by transforming the two-loop control structure into a disturbance observer form. The proposed method is validated on a single joint electro-hydraulic actuator.

The backdrivable servovalve is a desirable component for force and interaction control of hydraulic actuation systems because it provides direct force generation mechanical impedance reduction by its own inherent backdrivability. However, high parametric uncertainty and friction effects inside the hydraulic actuation system significantly degrade its advantage. To solve this problem, this letter presents a disturbance-adaptive robust internal-loop compensator (DA-RIC) to generate ideal interactive control performance from the backdrivable-servovalve-based system. The proposed control combines a robust internal-loop compensator structure (RIC) with an explicit disturbance estimator designed for asymptotic disturbance tracking, such that the controlled system provide stable and ideal dynamic behavior for impedance control, while completely compensating the disturbance effects. With the aid of a backdrivable servovalve, we show that the proposed control structure can be implemented based on a simplified nominal model, and the controller enables implementation without accurate knowledge of the target system parameters and disturbances. The performance and properties of the proposed controller are verified by simulation and experiments.

Unlike normal wheels, the Mecanum wheel enables omni-directional movement regardless of the orientation of a mobile robot. In this paper, a robust trajectory tracking control method is developed based on the dynamic model of the Mecanum wheel mobile robot in order that the mobile robot can move along the given path in the environment with disturbance. The method is designed using the impedance control to make the mobile robot to track the path, and the integral sliding mode control for robustness to disturbance. The good performance of the proposed method is verified using the MATLAB /Simulink simulation and also through the experiment on an actual Mecanum wheel mobile robot. In both the simulation and the experimentation, we make the mobile robot move along a reference trajectory while maintaining the robot's orientation at a constant angle to see the characteristics of the Mecanum wheel.

In order to achieve a force controller with high performance, an accurate torque servo is required. However, the precise torque servo for a double vane rotary actuator system has not been developed till now, due to many nonlinear characteristics and system parameter variations. In this paper, the torque servo structure for the double vane rotary actuator system is proposed based on the torque model. Nonlinear equations are set up using dynamics of the double vane rotary hydraulic actuator system. Then, to derive the torque model, the nonlinear equations are linearized using a taylor series expansion. Both effectiveness and performance of the design of torque servo are verified by torque servo experiments and applying the suggested torque model to an impedance controller.