Robust structure-control design approach for mechatronic systems

In this paper, a robust formulation for the structure-control design of mechatronic systems is developed. The proposed robust approach aims at minimization of the sensitivity of the nominal design objectives with respect to uncertain parameters. The robust integrated design problem is established as a nonlinear multiobjective dynamic optimization one, which in order to consider synergetic interactions uses mechanical and control nominal design objectives. A planar parallel robot and its controller are simultaneously designed with the proposed approach when the nominal design objectives are the tracking error and the manipulability measure. The payload at the end-effector is considered as the uncertain parameter. Experimental results show that a robustly designed parallel robot presents lower sensitivity of the nominal design objectives under the effects of changes at the payload than a nonrobustly designed one.