Serial robotic manipulators consist of a sequence of rigid links connected in series, forming an open kinematic chain. They are generally characterized by a large workspace and high dexterity. However, despite these advantages, they are not always well suited for tasks that require high speeds or accelerations and/or high precision, due to their limited stiffness and accuracy. In such cases, parallel kinematic manipulators (PKMs) often represent a more suitable alternative. The fundamental principle of PKM mechanical design relies on the use of at least two kinematic chains connecting the fixed base to a moving platform, with each chain incorporating at least one actuator. This architecture enables an effective distribution of loads among the chains. Consequently, PKMs offer significant advantages over their serial counterparts in terms of stiffness, speed, accuracy, and payload capacity.
Nevertheless, PKMs pose several challenging control issues, including highly nonlinear dynamics, kinematic and actuation redundancy, modeling uncertainties, and the existence of singular configurations. For instance, in high-speed repetitive robotic applications such as food packaging and waste sorting, the primary objective is to achieve short cycle times. This objective demands not only fast motion execution but also rapid stabilization, while simultaneously maintaining robustness and performance in the presence of disturbances and varying operational conditions. Consequently, the control of such robotic systems must take all these aspects into account, making it a particularly challenging problem.
This talk, after highlighting the main control challenges and application domains of PKMs, presents an overview of several advanced control strategies developed for high-speed and high-precision industrial applications, including food packaging, waste sorting, machining, and motion simulation. The proposed approaches are primarily based on nonlinear robust and adaptive control techniques and have been validated through real-time experiments on various PKM prototypes.
Prof. Ahmed CHEMORI
LIRMM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, France
Ahmed CHEMORI received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in automatic control from the Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, France, in 2001 and 2005, respectively. During the 2004-2005 academic year, he was a Research and Teaching Assistant at the Laboratoire de Signaux et Systèmes (LSS, CentraleSupélec) and at Université Paris 11. He subsequently joined GIPSA-lab (formerly LAG) as a CNRS postdoctoral researcher.
He is currently a Senior Researcher at the CNRS in automatic control and robotics, affiliated with LIRMM laboratory. His research interests include nonlinear control (robust, adaptive, and predictive approaches) and their real-time applications in various areas of robotics, including parallel robotics, underwater robotics, wearable robotics, and underactuated systems. He is the author or co-author of more than 190 scientific publications, including journal articles, patents, books, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He has co-supervised 26 Ph.D. theses (including 21 defended) and more than 40 M.Sc. theses. He currently serves as a Technical Editor for the journal IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.
He has also served as a TPC/IPC member and Associate Editor for several international conferences, including IEEE IROS, IEEE RO-MAN, IFAC ALCOS, IFAC CAMS, and the IFAC World Congress, among others, and has organized multiple scientific events. He is an IEEE Senior Member and an IFAC member of Technical Committees TC1.2 (Adaptive and Learning Systems), TC4.2 (Mechatronic Systems), TC4.3 (Robotics), and TC7.2 (Marine Systems)..
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