Fuzzy Sliding Mode Control of a Continuum Manipulator

This paper presents a study of a sliding mode control algorithm combined with fuzzy logic to control a continuum manipulator with bending and contractile capability. The dynamic model of the continuum manipulator is developed by Euler-Lagrangian equation of motion. The system kinetic energy and potential energy are calculated as the integration of the energies in each slice perpendicular to the backbone. The fuzzy sliding mode control is proposed based on sliding mode control method to realize the tracking control on bending and contractile of the continuum manipulator. By applying the feedback gains varying to the manipulator configuration, the fuzzy sliding mode control can attenuate the chattering problem without losing robustness. The simulation results show that the proposed fuzzy sliding mode controller effectively tackles the chattering problem and gives a good system performance in tracking control results.