On the Control Design of Half Humanoid for Space Applications

The paper presents the control architecture, controller modes , gain tuning and micro-gravity testing and stability analysis of 6 DOF robotic arm of Half Humanoid designed for space applications. A decentralised control architecture is followed with final execution effected through joint level position control loops. Conventional methods for gain tuning using step and frequency response analysis methods have been adopted, albeit in micro-gravity(micro-g) simulated configurations of the arm, sufficiency of which is established. The stability of the joint loops are ensured by the relative stability margins and hardware test results are presented.