Topic: Advanced Control and Calibration Methods for Precision Robotics

Dear Colleagues,

Industry 4.0 has ushered in advanced analytical control and calibration methods to achieve high precision in advanced industrial robotic applications. Such approaches must be capable of compensating for uncertainties caused by simplifications in models, unknown external disturbances, parameter variations, and high frequency unmodeled dynamics. The aging and wear and tear of the industrial robots may cause extra uncertainties which may influence industrial robots’ performances. While calibration is usually performed offline at the beginning of the process to increase the precision of the industrial robot, advanced control approaches use online data to mitigate steady state error and elevate overall performance. Calibration is executed in three levels identified by numbers. Calibration level I involves identifying the correcting equation to compensate for joint angle reading error. Calibration in level II is the geometric calibration which involves calculating more appropriate parameter values and adding possible correcting terms to obtain a more precise position and orientation for the industrial robot. Finally, level III calibration involves non-geometric calibration which includes compensation for stiffness, friction, and joint compliance. In parallel, non-contact metrology approaches can provide online feedback, enabling the implementation of advanced online control approaches to decrease steady state error and enhance the performance of the industrial robot. Energy efficiency, sustainability, and control performance, including speed and tracking performance, are among the most important control targets. Finite time controllers and pre-defined time control methods may result in chattering in the control signal and a shorter lifespan of the industrial robots. Therefore, minimization of control signal oscillations is highly appreciated.

Motivated by the aforementioned challenges, this Special Issue of “Advanced Control and Calibration Methods for Precision Robotics” will serve as a collection devoted to publishing original research papers for the state-of-the-art calibration and control methods to increase the precision of industrial robots and decrease positional errors. The investigation into the complexity of the proposed approaches would be highly appreciated. Therefore, proposed novel techniques, methods, applications, and industrial case studies reporting calibration and control methods for industrial robots are welcomed to be submitted to this Special Issue.

Robust control of industrial robots, calibration of industrial robots, high precision control of industrial robots, observer-based robust control of robotic systems, industrial robotic applications, robust control within Industry 4.0 framework

30 Jun 2024