Mechanical design and robust tracking control of a class of antagonistic variable stiffness actuators based on the equivalent nonlinear torsion springs

The novel conceptual model of the antagonistic variable stiffness actuator based on the equivalent nonlinear torsion spring and the friction damper is demonstrated. For the dynamic model of the antagonistic variable stiffness actuator in the presence of parametric uncertainties, unknown bounded friction torques, unknown bounded external disturbance, and input saturation constraints, using the coordinate transformation, the state space model of the antagonistic variable stiffness actuator with composite disturbances and input saturation constraints is transformed into an extended integral chain–type pseudo-linear system with input saturation constraints. Subsequently, a combination of the linear extended state observer, sliding mode control, and adaptive input saturation compensation law is adopted for the design of the robust tracking controller that simultaneously regulates the position and stiffness of the antagonistic equivalent nonlinear torsion spring-based variable stiffness actuator. Under the proposed controller, the semi-global uniformly ultimately bounded stability of the closed-loop system has been proved via Lyapunov stability analysis. Simulation studies demonstrate the effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed robust adaptive tracking control method for the antagonistic variable stiffness actuator.