Performance analysis of fractional order fuzzy PID controllers applied to a robotic manipulator

• Implementation of Fractional Order Fuzzy PID controller for a robotic manipulator.
• Comparison with Fuzzy PID, Fractional Order PID and conventional PID.
• Controllers tuning using Cuckoo Search Algorithm.
• Fractional Order Fuzzy PID controller is found to be superior.

A two-link robotic manipulator is a Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO), highly nonlinear and coupled system. Therefore, designing an efficient controller for this system is a challenging task for the control engineers. In this paper, the Fractional Order Fuzzy Proportional-Integral-Derivative (FOFPID) controller for a two-link planar rigid robotic manipulator for trajectory tracking problem is investigated. Robustness testing of FOFPID controller for model uncertainties, disturbance rejection and noise suppression is also investigated. To study the effectiveness of FOFPID controller, its performance is compared with other three controllers namely Fuzzy PID (FPID), Fractional Order PID (FOPID) and conventional PID. For tuning of parameters of all the controllers, Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA) optimization technique was used. Two performance indices namely Integral of Absolute Error (IAE) and Integral of Absolute Change in Controller Output (IACCO) having equal weightage for both the links are considered for minimization. Numerical simulation results clearly indicate the superiority of FOFPID controller over the other controllers for trajectory tracking, model uncertainties, disturbance rejection and noise suppression.