Date of Award

12-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Automotive Engineering

Committee Chair/Advisor

Matthias J. Schmid

Committee Member

Venkat N. Krovi

Committee Member

Yunyi Jia

Committee Member

Qilun Zhu

Abstract

In recent years, robotics has expanded into various sectors, including manufacturing, transportation, and household services, making the integration of autonomy a critical area of research. This shift aims to ensure safety and enhance the utility of autonomous systems. Traditionally, robotic applications focused separately on mobility, like automated guided vehicles, and manipulation, such as serial-chain arms in manufacturing. Today, however, we see a merging of these capabilities in the growing field of mobile manipulator robots that combine movement with purposeful interactive functionalities.

A typical mobile manipulator is a robotic arm mounted on a wheeled base. This thesis focuses on advancing control strategies for such robots, particularly emphasizing Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) to manage the uncertainties of dynamic systems and environments. These strategies enable efficient decision-making and safely handling multiple goals without specific infrastructure.

Popular approaches like Model Predictive Control (MPC) often ensure that systems follow a designated path or motion profile while adhering to complex dynamic constraints for smooth operation. This research develops a practical robust adaptive control framework that can address the shortcomings of popular methods in handling the added complexities of the manipulator, including continuous reconfiguration and external disturbances.

The thesis presents simulations and quantitative results demonstrating the closed-loop system's ability to manage unknown nonlinear dynamics and its robustness against modeling errors. It is shown that the error trajectories converge to a small neighborhood around the origin, using both numerical and formal stability analyses, thus confirming their boundedness and convergence.

Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0002-6672-4779

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