Tracking performance of pneumatic artificial muscle actuator using iterative control algorithm

A pneumatic artificial muscle(PAM) have been studied in several fields due to its flexible property. However, it has some troubles in tracking performance and control of a PAM because of the inherent flexibility in material and air. In this study, applicability of Iterative Control(IC) algorithm to a PAM was investigated so as to achieve improvement of tracking performance despite of large non-linearity of a PAM. For this, a PAM virtual simulator was constructed, and the IC algorithm was applied to it in open loop operations and closed-loop operations. Then assessment of these tracking performance was done with time histories and tracking error rms. It seems that the IC algorithm with a linear model is valid to improvement of tracking performance of a PAM, but it has a final convergence limit on account of the use of a linear model.