Iranian Journal of Science & Technology, Transaction B, Engineering, Vol. 32, No.

B4, pp 353-365
Printed in The Islamic Republic of Iran, 2008
Shiraz University

NEURAL NETWORK CONTROL OF TWO 6 DOF ELECTRICALLY

DRIVEN COOPERATING ROBOT MANIPULATORS
*
CARRYING A RIGID OBJECT
H. JAFARIAN1, M. EGHTESAD2** AND A. TAVASOLI3

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, I. R. of Iran

Email: eghtesad@shirazu.ac.ir

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Abstract In this paper, dynamic modeling and neural network control of two cooperating 6 DOF
elbow manipulators handling a rigid object are studied when actuator dynamics is considered as an
important part of the system dynamics. First, a kinematic model of the system and the relations
between various forces/torques acting on the object by using different Jacobians, and also the
dynamics of the mechanical subsystem are derived. Then, the actuator dynamics of each robot is
included in the dynamic equations of the robotic system and a third order matrix equation is
obtained. Finally, a neural network control scheme is developed for this third order dynamics and
an appropriate Lyapunov function is established. The proposed controller guarantees asymptotic
behavior for tracking the object desired trajectory. Numerical simulation of the cooperating robotic
system in the presence of uncertainties is provided to demonstrate the robust performance of the
proposed control scheme.

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Keywords Cooperating robot manipulators, neural network control, actuator dynamics, motion control, robot
control

1. INTRODUCTION

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There are many tasks that require cooperative manipulation by two or more robot manipulators. In
applications such as lifting a heavy object or assembling mating parts, more than one manipulator must
directly interact with the others. A cooperating multi-manipulator system is defined as a system of
multiple robots handling a common object, forming closed kinematic chains, [1]. In such situations, the
manipulators are kinematically and dynamically constrained and the resulting dynamic equations of
motion are extremely nonlinear and coupled.
Many researchers have studied the coordinated control of multiple robot arms actively. Hayati [2]
extended the Raibert and Craigs [3] position and force control scheme to multiple coordinated robot arms.
Khatib [4] developed a control scheme for nonredundant arms based on the dynamic model in the
operational space. Nakamura et al. [5] proposed a method to control the resultant force and the internal
force, where the resultant force is the force vector contributing directly to the motion of the object, and the
internal force represents the parts of the force vector which do not affect the motion. The results were used
to control the motion of the object and also the internal force. Itoh, Murakami, and Ohnishi [6] suggested
another approach to control cooperating robots and to manipulate an object being grasped. In their
method, at first, the grasp and acceleration forces of the end-effector are calculated, and then by using
backward iteration, the required manipulators joint torques are found. Finally, a work space observer is
adopted so that tip deflections are corrected. Thus, the control structure is simplified, and it may be

Received by the editors September 30, 2006; Accepted May 10, 2008.
Corresponding author

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possible to utilize Decentralized Control Technique for the control of the cooperative manipulators. Liu
[7] developed a robust control method for a planar dual-arm manipulator system. Considering the contact
and friction constraints for the grasp conditions, a robust controller was proposed using a switchingsliding algorithm for modeling imprecision and disturbances. Nagchaudhuri and Garg [8] investigated the
use of adaptive control and impedance control for a contact task involving multiple robots handling a
common heavy object. Uncertainties associated with the payload as well as dynamic characteristics of the
robots were considered. Kawasaki et al. [9], [10] presented an adaptive coordinated control method for
multiple robot arms rigidly grasping a common object. In their proposed controller, the dynamic
parameters of both object and robot arms were estimated adaptively. The desired motions of the robot
arms were generated by an estimated object reference model. The control method needed measurements of
only the positions and velocities of the object and robot arms and did not need the measurement of
forces/moments at contact points. Uzmay, Burkan and Sarikaya [11] carried out another study on the
application of adaptive and robust control methods to a cooperative manipulation system, which were
developed for handling an object by two-link planar robot manipulators. The adaptive control algorithm
ensured a parameter adaptation law satisfying the stability conditions of the uncertain system. In designing
robust control structure, contact and friction constraints for grasp and bearing conditions were considered
as the uncertainties that determine the available values of the control parameters. Kumar and Garg used
fuzzy control and modified it by neural network to control two cooperating robots [12]. Kumar et al.
proposed a neural network based control scheme for two 3 DOF coordinated robot manipulators carrying a
common object [13].
In robotic systems, different types of actuators are utilized to drive the links, wheels, legs, etc.
Usually, electrical actuators are utilized. Electrically driven robot manipulators can be controlled at two
different levels: torque level and voltage level. When one uses a torque-level controller, actuator dynamics
is disregarded, implying that a simplified (typically linear) relation between the torque and voltage vectors
is assumed. On the other hand, actuator dynamics constitutes an important part of the complete robotic
dynamics, especially in the case of high-velocity movements, highly varying loads, friction and actuator
saturation [14][17]. Also, when the interaction of the object and the robot end-effector causes continuous
changes in the grasping forces/moments, considering actuator dynamics becomes very crucial. However,
the inclusion increases the order of equations of system dynamics and complicates the controller structure
and its stability analysis, [18].
Over the past decade, the applications of intelligent control techniques (fuzzy control or neuralnetwork control) to the motion control of robotic manipulators have received considerable attention, [19]
[22]. In general, robotic manipulators have to face various uncertainties in their dynamics such as payload
parameters, friction, and disturbance. It can be difficult to establish an appropriate mathematical model for
the design of a model-based control system. On the other hand, the general claim of these intelligent
control approaches is that they can attenuate the effects of structured and unstructured parametric
uncertainty and disturbances by using their powerful learning ability without using detailed knowledge of
the controlled plant in the design processes.
In this paper, a cooperative manipulating system consisting of two 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot
manipulators grasping (clamped-clamped) a rigid common object is considered. Because of the presence
of uncertainty and disturbances, the interaction forces/moments between the object and the robot endeffectors may change with time and differ from their expected (calculated) values; therefore, the actuator
dynamics cannot be neglected and is considered in the system dynamics. After reviewing the kinematics
and dynamics of the robotic system, the application of a neural network controller with adaptive learning
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Neural network control of two 6 DOF electrically driven

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rules on the system is proposed. Using Lyapunov stability theorem, the stability of the closed-loop system
is verified. Results of numerical simulation of the cooperative rigid-link electrically-driven (RLED)
robotic system in the presence of uncertainties illustrate the robust performance of the proposed control
scheme.
This paper is organized in the following sections. In section 2, kinematic and dynamic equations of
motion of two cooperating robots handling a common rigid object are developed. In section 3, actuator
dynamics is presented and then combined with the mechanical subsystem dynamics, resulting in a third
order matrix equation of the cooperating RLED robotic system. In section 4, the neural network output
feedback controller is elaborated for the RLED robotic system of manipulators carrying a rigid object.
Also, details of stability analysis of the proposed method are presented in this section. Finally, the
simulation results and conclusions are presented in sections 5 and 6, respectively.
2. DYNAMIC MODELING OF TWO COOPERATING ROBOT MANIPULATORS

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a) Coordinate frames

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Five principal coordinate frames are utilized for developing kinematic and dynamic equations of the
cooperative robotic system. They are F1and F2, the inertial coordinate frames of the robot manipulator
bases, Fg1 and Fg2, the frames of end-effectors at the contact points with the object, and F0, the frame at the
mass center of the object (see Fig.1). The kinematic equations of the system will be written with respect to
the first robot inertial frame, F1.

Fig. 1. Two cooperating robot manipulators grasping a rigid object and different frames of the system

b) Kinematics
The following transformations of the coordinate frames are considered: RB, the rotational
transformation of F2 with respect to (wrt) F1, 0Rg1 and 0Rg2, the rotational transformations of Fg1and Fg2 wrt
F0, and R0, the rotational transformation of F0 wrt F1. r1 and r2, defined in F1, are used as the position
vectors from the mass center of the object to the contact points of the manipulator grippers.
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Object velocity, V0, and the velocities of the robot end-effectors contact points, Vi, i=1,2, are
introduced as follows:
V0 = [ 0 0 ]T , V1 = [1 1 ]T and V2 = [ 2 2 ]T

(1)

where v and denote corresponding linear velocity of the center of mass and angular velocity of the
object with respect to the base frame, F1. The following relation between vi (i=1, 2) and v0 can be written:
ri (3) ri (2)
0

i = 0 + 0 ri or, i = v 0 ri (3)
0
ri (1) 0 = v0 S (ri ) o
ri (2) ri (1)
0

0 33 o
I
Vi = i = 33
= Wi .V0
i S (ri ) I 33 o

(2)

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where ri ( j ) is the jth element of ri, 0 33 is (3 3) zero matrix, I 33 is (3 3) identity matrix and S(ri) is skew
symmetric matrix representation of the vector ri used to carry out the cross product of the two vectors. V1
and V2 can be mapped into joint velocities of robot 1 and robot 2 by
0 33
J q& = AJ 2 q& 2
R B 2 2

(3)

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RB
V 1 = J 1 q& 1 and V 2 =
0 33

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where J1 and J2 are the Jacobian matrices of robot 1 and robot 2, respectively, q1 and q2 are (6 1) vectors
of joint space coordinates of the first and second robot manipulators, respectively. From (2) and (3) we
can write
q&1 = J 11V1 = J 11W1V0 = B1V0 and q& 2 = J 21 A 1V2 = J 21 A 1W2V0 = B2V0 , q& i = BiV0 = Bi r& (4)

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where r (6 1) is regarded as the position/orientation of the mass center of the rigid object with respect to
the base frame, F1; therefore, V0 = r& .
Taking the time derivative of (4) yields the following relation for the accelerations,

q&&i = Bi &r& + B& i r&

(5)

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c) Contact forces/moments

The contact forces, defined in the base frame, F1, applied on the object at the contact points are
considered as

Fc = [ c f c ]T
i

(i=1, 2)

(6)

where Mci and fci, i=1, 2, represent the torques and forces at the contact points exerted by the manipulators,
respectively. The effect of the contact force, Foi, on the mass center of the object is
Fo = Wi T Fc
i

(i=1, 2)

(7)

d) Dynamic equations of the mechanical subsystem

1. Object dynamics: Dynamic equations of motion of the object can be written as [23, 24],
M o ( r ) &r& + C o ( r , r&) r& + G o ( r ) = Fo + Fo = W1T Fc + W 2T Fc
1

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Neural network control of two 6 DOF electrically driven

where r&, r&& are the first and second time derivatives of r, respectively. Mo (66) is the positive definite
objects inertia matrix, Co is the (66) matrix of the objects Coriolis and centrifugal effects, and Go is the
(61) vector of objects gravitational terms.
2. Robot dynamics: Using Lagranges formulation, the dynamic equation of the ith robot motion is derived
with respect to the joint coordinates, [23, 24]:
M i ( q i ) q&&i + C i ( q i , q& i ) q& i + Gi ( q i ) = i J iT Fc

(i=1, 2)

(9)

where Mi is the (66) positive definite inertia matrix of the ith robot, Ci is the (66) matrix of ith robot
Coriolis and centrifugal effects, Gi is the (61) vector of ith robot gravitational terms, and i is the vector
of applied forces/torques at the joints of the ith robot.

3. Dynamics of cooperating robots for carrying a common rigid payload: Substituting from Eqs. (4) and
(7) into Eq. (9), the following equation can be written
W i T Fc = BiT ( i M i ( q i ) q&&i C i ( q i , q& i ) q& i G i ( q i ))

(i=1, 2)

(10)

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&&i from Eqs. (4) and (5) into Eq. (10) and substituting them in Eq. (8), the matrix
Replacing q& i and q
equation of the whole mechanical subsystem dynamics can be obtained as
2

M (r )&r& + C (r , r&)r& + G(r ) = = BiT i

(11)

i =1

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where,
2

2
2
M ( r ) = M o + BiT M i Bi , C ( r , r& ) = C o + B iT C i B i + B iT M i B& i , and G(r) = Go + BiT Gi

i =1

i =1

i =1

i =1

(12)

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From the skew symmetric and positive definiteness properties of the matrix formulation for each robot and
the object, it can be shown that, [23, 24]
1. The inertia matrix M is symmetric positive definite.
2. The matrix M& 2C is skew symmetric.
3. The inertia matrix M verifies M min M M max .
4. The matrix of Coriolis and centrifugal terms is above bounded by C ( r , r& ). r& k C r& 2 .
5. The vector of gravitational terms realizes G ( r ) k G .
Where kC and kG are known scalar functions which are constant for a manipulator with only revolute
joints.

3. ACTUATOR DYNAMICS AND THIRD ORDER MATRIX EQUATION OF TWO

COOPERATING RLED ROBOT MANIPULATORS

In this section, the actuator dynamics of each robot is formulated and then inserted into the dynamic
equation of the mechanical subsystem in order to obtain the third order matrix equation of two cooperating
RLED robot manipulators carrying a common rigid object. With DC motors as system actuators, actuator
dynamics for each robot is a first order differential equation, which for the ith robot actuator is written as:
Li I&i + Ri I i + K q q& i = u i ,
i

(i=1, 2)

(13)

where Li , Ri and K qi are diagonal constant electrical inductance, electrical resistance, and back emf
coefficient matrices of the ith robot actuators, respectively. I i and u i are armature current and motor
input voltage vectors of robot i, respectively. Also, we can write a torque vector equation for each robot in
terms of the armature current vector as
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i = Ki Ii

(i=1, 2)

(14)

where Ki (66) is a diagonal constant matrix. Therefore, the whole actuator dynamics of the two robots
can be written as
(15)
LI& + RI + K q r& = u
where

L = diag ( L1 , L2 ) , R = diag ( R1 , R 2 ) ,

I = I1T

I 2T , u = u1T
T

u2T

Kq = B1T KqT

and K I = [B1T K 1

B2T KqT

B2T K 2

(16)
(17)

Substituting Eq. (14) into Eq. (11), we can write

(18)

M ( r ) &r& + C ( r , r& ) r& + G = K I I

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To obtain the combined equation of motion of the two cooperating robot manipulators, first we
differentiate Eq. (18) and write:
M (r )&r&& + M& (r )&r& + C (r , r&)r&& + C& (r , r&)r& + G& = K& I I + K I I&
From Eqs. (18) and (19), I and I& are derived as

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I = K I+ (M (r )r&& + C ( r , r&) r& + G )

I& = L1 (u RI K q r& )

(19)

(20)
(21)

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where K I+ is (pseudo) inverse of K I . By inserting these equations into Eq. (19), the following third order
equation is obtained:

M (r )&r&& + ( B (r , r&) + C (r , r&))r&& + D (r , r&, r&&)r& + E = v

where

(22)

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B = M& + KM , D = C& + KC , E = G& + KG + K r r& , v = K I L1u ,

K = ( K I L1 R K& I ) K I1 , and K r = K I L1 K q

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Equation (22) can be modified by assuming a bounded voltage disturbance, v d v B , in the system
dynamics:
M (r )&r&& + ( B ( r , r&) + C ( r , r&))&r& + D (r , r&, &r&)r& + E + v d = v
(23)
4. NEURAL NETWORK FEEDBACK CONTROLLER DESIGN

As a main property of neural networks (NN) for control purposes, we are concerned with its property of
function approximation. Let f(x) be a smooth function from Rn to Rm. It can then be shown that [25], as
long as x is restricted to a compact set S of Rn, for some sufficiently large numbers of hidden layer
neurons, there exist weights and thresholds such that any continuous function in a compact set can be
represented as f ( x) = W T (V T x ) + , where the value of is called the NN function approximation error.
For any choice of a positive N, one can find an NN such that <N x S . For control purposes, the ideal
approximating NN weights can be provided by some on-line weight tuning algorithms.
The NN in the remainder of the paper is considered with the first layer weight V fixed. We select V=I
so that the NN output is y(x)=WT (x), and the Sigmoid function is the basis for our NN design.
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Neural network control of two 6 DOF electrically driven

Given a desired object path, rd R n , the tracking error is: e(t ) = rd r ; the filtered tracking error
can be defined as:
(24)
= e&& + 1e& + 2 e
where 1 and 2 are two positive definite matrices. If we express the system dynamics, Eq. (23), in terms
of the filtered error, substituting the E, D and B terms gives

M& = C + M (&r&&d + 1&e& + 2 e&) + C(&r&d + 1e& + 2e) + (M& + KM)&r& + (C& + KC)r& + (G& + KG) +K r r& + vd v (25)
The complicated function to be approximated by NN can be chosen as
f ( x ) = M (&r&d + 1 e&& + 2 e&) + C (&r&d + 1e& + 2 e) + ( M& + KM )&r& + (C& + KC ) r& + (G& + KG ) + K r r&

(26)

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where x = [e T e& T e&&T rdT r&dT r&&dT ].

Now, to provide robustness in the face of disturbances and modeling errors, we define a control input
voltage as v = f + K v (t ) with f = W T ( x) being an estimate of f(x), Kv a symmetric positive definite
gain matrix, and (t) an auxiliary signal, [25]; then, the filtered error dynamics becomes
~
(27)
M& = ( K v + C ) + f + v d + (t )
~
~
~
where the functional estimation error is given by f = f f = W T ( x ) and W = W W .
Using the NN function approximation, the filtered error dynamics will be
(28)

~
M& = ( K v + C ) + W T ( &x ) + w + (t )

(29)

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or,

~
M& = ( K v + C ) + W T ( x ) + ( + v d ) + (t )

~
where w = W T &x + + v d is considered to be the disturbance term.
To study the stability of the closed-loop dynamics, the following Lyapunov candidate may be defined

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1
1 ~
~
L = T M + tr W T 1W
2
2

(30)

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where is a positive definite matrix. Differentiating it with respect to time gives

1
~
L& = T M & + T M& + tr W T
2

~&
W

(31)

Substituting from Eq. (29) into Eq. (31);

1
~
L& = T K v + T M& 2C + tr W T

~&
W +

&x T + T ( w + )

(32)

~
The skew symmetry property yields the second term zero. Since W = W + W with W constant, let the
tuning rule for W be considered as
&
W = T &x T k W

(33)

where k is a small positive gain. Therefore,

{ (

)}

1
~
L& = T K v + T M& 2 C + k tr W T W W + T ( w + )
2

(34)

Since
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~
~
~
tr W T (W W ) W
where A

~
W

= tr ( AT A) is Frobenius norm of matrix A, then,

~
L& K v min + k W

(W~

2
F

WB (w + ) [K v min + ]

(35)

where W is bounded as W W B using the properties 3 to 5, and depends on Mmin, Mmax, kC, kG, k, N, vB,
and the largest terms of 1, 2, Kr and K. Also, Kvmin is the smallest Kv eigenvalue chosen using a trial and
error procedure such that K v min >
for all to make L& a negative semi-definite function. Since L

is a positive definite non-increasing function, one can show that,

(t ) dt <
2

(36)

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which shows Ln2 . To establish a stability result for the position tracking error, e, one may write the
transfer function relationship between the tracking error and the filtered tracking error, , as:
e( s ) = G ( s). ( s ) = s 2 I + s1 + 2

. ( s )

(37)

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where s is the Laplace variable. Since G(s) is a strictly proper, asymptotically stable transfer function and
L2 , one may conclude that [23, 24]:
lim

e=0

(38)

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Therefore, the position tracking error, e, and also the velocity tracking error, e& , will asymptotically
converge to zero.

5. SIMULATION RESULTS

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Two elbow manipulators are used for simulation purposes. Each manipulator has six rotational degrees of
freedom, shown in Fig. 2. These manipulators are controlled in order to move a rigid object, grasped
firmly, along the desired trajectory.

Fig. 2. A 6 DOF elbow manipulator

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Neural network control of two 6 DOF electrically driven

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Some of the kinematical, dynamical and electrical parameters of the robot manipulators can be seen in
Tables 1 to 3, respectively; more parameters can be found in [26]. The object is chosen to be a cube with a
length of 0.2m. The origin of the inertial frame, F1, is chosen to be at the base of the first manipulator. The
object coordinate frame, F0, is fixed to its center of mass. The distance between the two manipulators
bases is in x-direction of F1 and is equal to 1m.
The desired trajectory of the object is considered such that it moves from ri to rf in thirty seconds:
ri = [ / 2 0 / 2 0.6 0 0.3]T

r f = [ / 6 0.6 / 6 0.2 0 0.2]T

(39)

As mentioned before, desired trajectories of q1 and q2 can be obtained from the desired trajectory of the
object. To show robustness of the proposed control scheme a sinusoidal disturbance in voltage input is
considered as v d = [0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1]T sin .t 4 for each robot.

( )

d(m)

a(m)

(rad)
/2

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Link No.

Table 1. Denavit-Hartenberg kinematical parameters of an elbow manipulator

0.5

0.1

-/2

/2

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0.4

Link No.

Link Mass
[Kg]
1

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Table 2. Some of the dynamical parameters of an elbow manipulator

Distance from CG to ith frame origin, [m]
-0.2 in y direction

-0.1 in x direction

1.6

-0.1 in x direction

0.4

-0.02 in x direction

0.1

0.1

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Table 3. Electrical parameters of the DC motors

R ( )

La (mH )

K e [Vs rad ](orK T [ Nm A])

J m ( Kgm 2 )

3.333

42.3539

3.423

0.1159

The simulation results are shown in Figs. 3-5. From these figures, it can be seen that the orientation
and position of the object converge to their desired values. It can also be seen that the joint space
coordinates of the two robot manipulators, q1i and q2i, i=1,,6, which are obtained from position and
orientation of the object in each instant of time, converge to their desired values in the required time.
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Fig. 3. Tracking performance of the object trajectory vs. time. Above from left to right for object orientation
around x, y and z axes, respectively, and below from left to right for object center of
mass displacement along x, y and z axes, respectively

Fig. 4. Tracking performance of joint variables of robot 1 vs. time.

q1i(t), i=1,6, are joint variables of robot 1 in rad.
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Neural network control of two 6 DOF electrically driven

Fig. 5. Tracking performance of joint variables of robot 2 vs. time,

q2i(t), i=1,...6, are joint variables of robot 2 in rad.

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6. CONCLUSION

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In this paper, an NN tracking controller was developed for a dual robot manipulator system incorporating
its motor dynamics. In order to justify the inclusion of actuator dynamics in the control algorithm and see
the effects of ignoring this dynamics, a simple trajectory with sharp changes in joint coordinates of a 5DOF robot was considered in [27] and the inverse dynamics control algorithm, [23, 24], was applied on
the robot dynamics in two different levels: torque level, and voltage level, both for DC motor based
closed-loop control of the RLED robot manipulator. The results of voltage commands and errors in joint
tracking when applying torque-level inverse dynamics control were compared with those for voltage-level
inverse dynamics control [27]. It was clearly shown that the ignored dynamics had its influence on the
voltage commands and the tracking errors.
To the best of our knowledge, our research work is the first one in which a control method is reported
for the control of a cooperating robotic system when its actuator dynamics is included as a part of the
system dynamics. To propose an efficient control method, first, second-order dynamics of the mechanical
subsystem consisting of two cooperating robot manipulators was obtained in a matrix form. Second, the
electrical subsystem dynamics was written in a first-order compact matrix form. These two dynamics were
combined to form a third-order dynamics and were controlled by an adaptive NN controller. Therefore,
the proposed method does not require the robots and actuator parameters to be known a priori. Compared
with adaptive control, it does not require the persistent excitation condition of certain signals and
preliminary analysis to determine a regression matrix [25]. Also, the control law is very simple. Moreover,
by theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, if any disturbances appear in the dynamics of the
cooperative robotic system, its stability is still assured. Thus the proposed controller can be considered as
a universal reusable controller and can be applied to the motion control of any system of RLED
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cooperative manipulator robots without any modifications. Also, the proposed controller does not need to
measure the acceleration feedback.

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