On output feedback tracking control of robot manipulators with bounded torque input

Motivated by the fact that in many industrial robots the joint velocity is estimated from position measurements, the trajectory tracking of robot manipulators with output feedback is addressed in this paper. The fact that robot actuators have limited power is also taken into account. Let us notice that few solutions for the torque-bounded output feedback tracking control problem have been proposed. In this paper we contribute to this subject by presenting a theoretical reexamination of a known controller, by using the theory of singularly perturbed systems. Motivated by this analysis, a redesign of that controller is introduced. As another contribution, we present an experimental evaluation in a two degrees-of-freedom revolute-joint direct-drive robot, confirming the practical feasibility of the proposed approach.