PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF AN UNDERACTUATED BRACHIATION ROBOT

This work is focused on the position control of an underactuated brachiation mobile robot with 3 links. We present the modeling of the dynamics of the robot and introduce the application of the nonlinear model-based predictive control (NMPC) to such a system. The robot has 3 revolute joints but only one of them is actuated, i. e., the robot has less control inputs than degrees of freedom. The investigation of the NMPC to control such a system is due to the fact that NMPC is able do deal with constraints (state or input limitations) in a direct way, obtaining an optimal control law. Simulation results are shown, as well as some directions for future developments.