A Model-free Adaptive Controller for Biomimetic Pneumatically Actuated Continuum Manipulators

In this paper, a model-free adaptive control (MFAC) algorithm of pneumatic muscle actuators (PMAs) actuated multisection continuum arms is developed for a better dynamic performance. The idea of the method is to replace a general nonlinear system by an equivalent dynamic linearization model at the current operating points. To accomplish the model-free adaptive control, we introduce pseudo partial derivative. To estimate it online in the dynamic linearization model, we use the input and output data of controlled objects. The spatial dynamics with numerical stability is based on modal kinematics, which is employed for getting I/O data in a simulation environment. In the end, MATLAB/SIMULINK is used to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the MFAC strategy.