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This article focuses on the modelling and control of a two-link planar mechanical manipulator that emulates a human arm. The simplicity of the control algorithm and its ease of computation are particularly highlighted in this study. The arm is subjected to a vibratory excitation at a specific location on the arm while performing trajectory tracking tasks in two-dimensional space, taking into account the presence of ‘muscle’ elements that are mathematically modelled. A closed-loop control system is applied using an active force control strategy to accommodate the disturbances based on a predefined set of loading and operating conditions to observe the system responses. Results of the study imply the effectiveness of the proposed method in compensating the vibration effect to produce robust and accurate tracking performance of the system. The results may serve as a useful tool in aiding the design and development of a tooling device for use in a mechatronic robot arm or even human arm (smart glove) where precise and/or robust performance is a critical factor and of considerable importance.

In this paper, Active Force Control with Fuzzy Logic (AFCFL) technique is applied to the control of a fluidic muscle (also known as pneumatic artificial muscle or PAM) that acts as an actuator to drive a trolley system in a laboratory setting. Since, fluidic muscle has a high-tension force, high power/weight ratio, high strength, and cleanliness, ease of maintenance, low cost, compactness and cheap power source, it has caught the attention of researchers in the area of robotics. Despite of its advantageous, the presence of the inherent high nonlinearity behaviour, high hysteresis and time variance in the system has made it a challenging and interesting system for modelling and control design. The main goal of this study is to perform accurate position control of a trolley through a hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) implementation so as to enhance the system performance through the AFCFL scheme. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed controller compared to the conventional proportional-integralderivative (PID) control method.

The paper describes a Neuro Active Force Control (NAFC) method that is applied to control a vertical moving mass (trolley) actuated by a fluidic muscle or pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM). The NAFC is in effect coupled to a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller and was practically implemented on a physical test rig that was developed in the laboratory. The effectiveness of the proposed controller was verified through the experiments, which suggests its superior performance in terms trajectory tracking control capability and disturbance suppression.

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