Joint Space Control of a Deployable Cable Driven Parallel Robot with Redundant Actuators

Cable-driven parallel robots with redundant actuators are faced with the problem of loose cables, especially when the robot is deployable and controlled within the joint space. This paper aims to addresses this shortcoming by proposing a suitable robust controller which requires no expensive positioning sensors such as laser trackers. The robot’s embedded force sensors are used alongside a new sliding surface for the robust controller to avoid loose cables even in the presence of kinematic and dynamic uncertainties. Therefore, conventional joint-space controllers are modified to become applicable for cable-driven robots, while assuring positive cable tensions. Implementation results on the ARAS suspended cable-driven parallel robot illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control architecture and the feasibility of stable solutions.