Dynamics and Control of a Two-link Manipulator using PID and Sliding Mode Control

A robotic arm having two links is considered in this report for modeling and control. First the dynamic model of the robot is obtained using the so-called Lagrange equation, then a robust control strategy based on the conventional sliding mode control is introduced to control the motion of the robot at specific position for pick and place tasks along with PID control scheme. The results of the two controllers are compared. From the simulation results the SMC is found to be superior to the PID controller in term of fast and robust response yet with higher control input. High join speeds are observed in case of SMC which are related to the high control signals.