An Actuator Fault Detection and Isolation Scheme: Experiments in Robotic Manipulators

The problem of fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) has received a great deal of attention during the past several years. There are a number of industrial applications such as manufacturing processes, hazardous waste management, and maintenance of aircraft and electrical power lines where unpredictable behavior such as poor performance or even unsafe operation can result from abnormal deviations of components or subsystems. In certain industrial applications unpredictable behaviors are usually associated with increasing operating costs, line shut-down, and possible detrimental environment impacts. Consequently, an exceptional level of autonomy is required in these types of applications. Hence, there is a high demand for new methods in supervision, fault detection, fault isolation, and fault recovery.