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A Robust Control Approach for Hydraulic Excavators Using μ-synthesis

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  • Control Theory and Applications
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Abstract

In this work, a robust control is applied to the automation of a hydraulic excavator. Hydraulic excavators exhibit complex nonlinear behavior due to the inherent nonlinearity of the hydraulic servo system. Furthermore, the hydraulic excavator is subject to large disturbance forces during interaction with the environment. As a result, conventional feedback control techniques, such as a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control, fail to provide consistent performance over the whole operation region of the excavator. Especially, when phase-offset errors vary between joints, undesirable motions are generated in the workspace, which evidently degrades the overall performance of the controller. With this in mind, we apply a robust control approach to the autonomous hydraulic excavators. By handling the nonlinearities and disturbances as uncertainties within the joint dynamics, a robust controller is designed by means of μ-synthesis that guarantees robust stability and performance within the given uncertainty bounds. Furthermore, by adopting a common model reference for each joint, we seek to increase the overall performance of tracking the digging trajectory in the workspace. Experimental results of the robust controller conducted on an industrial 21-ton class hydraulic excavator are presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Gwanak-ro 1, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Korea

    Seunghyun Kim & H. Jin Kim

  2. Hauteworks Inc., Gwanak-ro 1, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, Korea

    Jaemann Park & Seonhyeok Kang

  3. Hyundai Heavy Industrial, Co., Ltd., Dong-gu, Ulsan, 44032, Korea

    Pan Young Kim

Authors
  1. Seunghyun Kim
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  2. Jaemann Park
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  3. Seonhyeok Kang
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  4. Pan Young Kim
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  5. H. Jin Kim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. Jin Kim.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Pinhas Ben-Tzvi under direction of Editor Duk-Sun Shim.

Seunghyun Kim received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. He is currently Research Engineer with Hyundai Motor Company, Hwasung, Korea. His research interests include robust control and nonlinear control

Jaemann Park received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, all in mechanical and aerospace engineering. He was a Post-Doctoral Researcher with Seoul National University from 2014 to 2016. Currently, he is one of the co-founders of Hauteworks Inc., where he is developing intelligent and emerging solutions for personal health and fitness.

Seonhyeok Kang received the B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from Ulsan University, Ulsan, Korea, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. He was a Lead Researcher with Hyundai Heavy Industries Company, Ltd., Ulsan, until 2015. In 2015, he co-founded Hauteworks Inc. which aims to develop personal health and fitness solutions.

Pan Young Kim received his B.S. and M.S degrees in naval architecture and ocean engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. Currently, he is working as a Director of R&D center at Hyundai Construction Equipment, Korea.

H. Jin Kim received the B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the Korean Advanced Institute of Technology, Daejeon, Korea, in 1995, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA, in 1999 and 2001, respectively. She was a Post-Doctoral Researcher in electrical engineering and computer science with the University of California at Berkeley from 2002 to 2004. In 2004, she joined the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, where she is currently a Professor. Her current research interests include intelligent control of robotic systems, navigation, and motion planning.

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Kim, S., Park, J., Kang, S. et al. A Robust Control Approach for Hydraulic Excavators Using μ-synthesis. Int. J. Control Autom. Syst. 16, 1615–1628 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-017-0071-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-017-0071-9

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