Tracking Funnel Control Applied on a 4-DOF Robot Manipulator: A Comparative Study

Funnel control has been proposed as an adaptive solution for systems with uncertainties without the need to repeatedly adjust the controller parameters. This work presents a funnel controller for a 4 DOF robot manipulator for tracking trajectories. The controller maintains the correct position angle of the joint while tracking a desired trajectory in the workspace of the robot. Moreover, the controller will allow predetermining and optimizing the transient response and ensures that the tracking error evolves inside a performance funnel boundary predefined by the user. Simulation results prove that the funnel controller has overcome the PID controller in reducing the overshoot and the settling time. Moreover, the funnel controller was able to effectively follow the set points with accuracy.