Predictor-based Tracking Control of a Class of Series Elastic Actuators With Input Delay

In this paper, tracking control of a class of series elastic actuators subject to unknown time-varying input delay and additive disturbances is investigated. To address the input delay, a novel predictor-like method is proposed in the control input which uses a predictor to compensate for the delay. Lyapunov-Krasovskii functions are applied within Lyapunov-based stability analysis to show semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded tracking errors. The control scheme is extended to the case that the input delay is unknown and time-varying. A constant estimate of the delay is determined to establish uniformly ultimately bounded convergence of the tracking error. Numerical simulation results illustrate the performance of the developed robust controller.