Optimal Trajectory Planning for Pneumatic Cylindrical Manipulator Considering Dynamical and Stick Slip Constraints

This study presents an investigation into trajectory planning for a 5-degree-of-freedom pneumatic robot using the firefly metaheuristic algorithm (FMA). The methodology employed uses FMA and is based on the application of 5th-degree B-splines for interpolating intermediate points, aiming to obtain trajectories that consider the lower actuator forces associated with the dynamics of the manipulator under study (objective function). Kinematic and dynamic constraints determined by the operational characteristics of pneumatic servo-positioners were proposed, such as friction modeling, calculation of equivalent mass, velocity, acceleration etc. The results demonstrates that the trajectories generated by the proposed method and by 7th-degree optimized trajectory presented in literature resulted in similar average error and maximum error when applied in the pneumatic robot, indicating that the other issues, such as friction modeling, robot vibration, among others, need to be investigated to improve robot under investigation control.